North American Crane Working Group
Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop
Date of this Version
2023
Document Type
Article
Citation
Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop (2023) 16: 44–51
Abstract
The Mississippi sandhill crane is an endangered non-migratory subspecies that primarily occurs on its namesake national wildlife refuge. To manage crane habitat on the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge during 2020–2023, 8,885 ha were treated with prescribed burns, 648 ha of woody vegetation was removed, 234 ha of invasive plants were chemically treated, and 400 ha were mowed. There were 368 target predators removed, including coyotes and bobcats. Forty-six captive-reared juveniles were released. We detected an average of 64 nests per year, with a range of 63–69, the latter a record high. A total of 37 chicks fledged for an average of 9.2 per year, ranging from 5 to 13. There were confirmed mortalities for 13 cranes and an additional 26 banded cranes were missing and removed from the population totals. As of December 2023, the population size was 174 cranes, up 26% from previous 4 years, including 121 banded individuals. The total home area used by the crane population during the period was 34,901 ha, an increase of more than 30%.
Comments
United States government wrk