Winter return of over 200 whoopers thrills refuge bird-counters

11:53 AM CST on Sunday, January 15, 2006

By SCOTT WILLIAMS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

CORPUS CHRISTI – North America's tallest bird hasn't stood this tall since well before the federal government created a winter refuge for the endangered whooping crane in South Texas more than six decades ago.

FILE 2005/AP

The whooping cranes fly from Canada to their winter home along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Rockport, Texas.

That's because the whooping crane population – at one time as low as 14 – has climbed to more than 400, including 217 that belong to the flock that winters at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, sixty miles north of Corpus Christi.

"It ties what we peaked at last year and ... [a refuge biologist] has determined three mortalities on the refuge this year," said Lee Ann Linam, a biologist in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's wildlife diversity program. "[That] means that the population would have been at 220 at some point."

The cranes began arriving at the refuge from their summer nesting grounds in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park in October and now number 215, she said, while two others have become sidetracked. One has been spotted in South Dakota and is believed to be ill, she said, and the other is apparently planning to spend the winter with sandhill cranes in South Texas.

"It's a young crane that got separated from its parents, so it's hanging around with sandhill cranes," Ms. Linam said.

Ms. Linam's interest in whooping cranes began as a child when her father, Frank Johnson, became superintendent of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, serving in that capacity in the 1970s and 1980s. The whooping crane population numbered around 50 when Ms. Linam's family moved to the refuge.

"His last year at the refuge was the year they hit 100," she said, "and we were excited just a couple of years ago when they hit 200."

The heartwarming story of the flock's recovery is among the reasons bird-watchers and other tourists visit the refuge each winter. The nearby towns of Rockport and Fulton bring in an estimated $6 million annually from visitors drawn to see the cranes, Ms. Linam said.

Diane Probst, president and CEO of the Rockport-Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce, said the whooping cranes are the main draw for some people. The birds' black-tipped wings span 7 feet when in flight.

"Many people want to complete their life list," she said, "and this is one of the birds hard-core bird-watchers want to complete their life list with."

Eddy Polhemus, owner of Pisces Charters, makes part of his living taking visitors on crane-watching tours. His 65-foot boat sports an observation deck and takes visitors into the refuge via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

"Most of our people are from out of the area," said Mr. Polhemus, who estimates that he takes 3,000 visitors a year to see the cranes. "They drive in from all over the country, all over the world, actually."

Mr. Polhemus schedules a four-hour trip every day from November to the middle of April, leaving the Sand Dollar Marina in Fulton at 10 a.m. and returning around 2 p.m. Along the way, tourists from throughout the U.S., France, England, Japan and other countries enjoy the scenery while a bird expert narrates.

"This is the only place in the world that you can see the whooping cranes in the wild unless you see them on their migration," Mr. Polhemus said. "This is the only wild flock that exists that comes down to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge."

Other whooping crane flocks have been created from eggs taken from this wild flock, Ms. Linam said. One is a nonmigratory flock in central Florida, while a second flock is being trained to migrate between Florida and Wisconsin using an ultra-light aircraft to guide them. More than 100 additional whooping cranes can be found in zoos and research centers in the U.S. and Canada.

"That has been the goal of the recovery program is to have some security so you don't have all of your wild birds in one flock," Ms. Linam said.

She said dry conditions have reduced the blue crab population that makes up the bulk of a whooping crane's diet. And it is feared that a less nutritious diet will make them less inclined to breed and more vulnerable on the 2,400-mile trip to Canada.

The whooping cranes will begin leaving in late March.

Scott Williams is a freelance writer based in Corpus Christi.