TRACKING SANDHILL CRANE MIGRATION FROM SASKATCHEWAN TO THE GULF COAST

Authors

DALE G. HJERTAAS, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource ManagementFollow
DAVID H. ELLIS, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research CenterFollow
BRIAN W. JOHNS, Canadian Wildlife Service
STACIE L. MOON, Bowie, MD

Date of this Version

2001

Document Type

Article

Citation

Hjertaas, Dale G., Ellis, David H., Johns, Brian W., and Moon, Stacie. Tracking sandhill crane migration from Saskatchewan to the Gulf Coast. In: Ellis, David H., ed., Proceedings of the Eighth North American Crane Workshop, 11–14 January 2000, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Seattle, Wash: North American Crane Working Group, 2001), pp. 57-61.

Comments

Reproduced by permission of the North American Crane Working Group (NACWG).

Abstract

Four adult sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis rowani) were captured in east-central Saskatchewan, equipped with transmitters, and tracked by satellite to detennine if their migration routes and wintering areas would allow their use as guide birds to establish a new migratory flock of whooping cranes (G. americana). Two birds captured near Yorkton died or their transmitters were lost before migration. Two adults from the Overflowing River moved to staging areas in southern Saskatchewan in September. By 29 September, Crane A left Saskatchewan and moved to North Dakota where it remained until late October. By 21 December, it arrived a few km inland from the Gulf Coast near McFaddin, Texas, 3,378 km from its capture location. It remained there until at least 9 March 1995. On 15 March, it was relocated near Grand Island, Nebraska, and by 20 April, it had returned to the Overflowing River area. Crane B spent most of September and October near the Quill Lakes, Saskatchewan, then migrated with brief stops in South Dakota and Kansas, arriving 29 November at its winter area near the northwestern corner of the Laguna Madre in Tamaulipas, Mexico, 3,998 km from its summering area. It remained there until at least 25 December, whereafter no further transmissions were received. Because both cranes wintered or migrated near the current whooping crane winter area at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (Aransas), Texas, this population was judged unsuitable to provide guide birds for a new flock of whooping cranes.