Whooping Crane Spotted in Georgia

An adult whooping crane

A crane in a Georgia marsh

Ebon's breeder recently took the interesting photograph on the left near her home in Southern Georgia. There are fifteen species of crane in the world, and the whooping crane (Grus americana) is the only species that this bird could possibly be. There are approximately six hundred of these birds in the world, including those that are in captivity. However, whooping cranes are not normally found in Georgia. So, how did this bird wind up here?

The current distribution of these birds is highly relevant to their history as an endangered species. In 1941 there were only fifteen of the birds left in the world, making the species critically endangered and close to extinction. These fifteen birds were part of a population that migrated from the Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Through protection efforts, the numbers were able to begin to bounce back. However, conservationists were concerned that relying on a single population could still result in the loss of the entire species though illness or natural disaster. So, effort was put toward creating several different populations of birds.

A juvenile whooping crane

The first attempt was to create a population of whooping cranes in Idaho, but this group of birds has since completely collapsed. The next population became established in Kissimmee Florida. Though the population has done rather well, these birds were never able to learn to migrate. Normally, the chicks would learn the migratory path from the adult birds, but these chicks were being raised by humans. Since the species is a historically migratory bird, this is of concern. There had to be same way to teach the birds a new migration route.

Young cranes following the ultralight

The solution came in the form of an ultralight plane. Chicks were raised by hand using white suits and puppet heads to prevent imprinting on humans. The young birds were then taught to follow the small aircraft, whose wings were painted with dark tips to resemble the wings of the adult birds. Through the use of this plane, a population migrating between the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin and the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida has been established.

There is also now another non-migratory population that has been experimentally established in White River, Louisiana.

So, back to how a whooping crane could have possibly ended up in Georgia. There are two possible explanations. First, a bird from the permanent Florida population somehow made it over the border. Second, a bird from the Florida-Wisconsin migratory population spent a little time resting on the way to its breeding grounds. The latter seems like the most likely explanation since it is spring and approximately the right time for these birds to be leaving their wintering grounds.

No matter the reason, seeing one of these endangered birds in the wild is a rare treat. If you ever see a whooping crane in the wild, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like you to report your sighting using the following form: Reporting Whooping Crane Observation.


Sources are the International Crane Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, and IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. First image is copyright to Kathy F. Additional images are from Wikimedia Commons and are copyright free: one, two, three.

Lost Ladybugs

Dave over at Little Heelers recently directed me to an interesting article on ladybugs from the CBC, or ladybirds as they say in many other countries. They are also called lady beetles.

Nine-spotted ladybug (Coccinella novemnotata). They have a "milk mustache" above their head not in other species.

The article is concerned with the fate of the nine-spotted ladybug, a species that was once incredibly common across much of North America. It has since become exceedingly rare after several other species of beetle were introduced (including the seven-spotted ladybug, Coccinella septempunctata), even though nearly all of the different species have different habitats and diets. In fact, there were no sightings in the Eastern United States in fourteen years. Since the species are not competing, what could possibly be causing the decline? Well, we don't know yet. There are multiple possible causes, including introduction of parasites, parasitoids, or competition from the seven-spotted ladybug. However, little data was recorded after the introduction of the new species, so it is not known what, if any direct affect the seven-spotted ladybugs have had on the nine-spotted ladybugs. There is now a Lost Ladybug Project which is concentrated on collecting more data on the density of the now rare species, including the nine-spotted ladybug. If you see a ladybug, take a picture and join in. It might be a rare lady beetle.

Seven-spotted ladybug for contrast

It's always unfortunate when a species goes extinct, and I'm sure many people following this blog remember catching ladybugs in their childhood, me included. Most people would say, "So? It's just an insect. There's so many of them, what will the loss of one species do?" Well, the problem is we don't know. This is true in all cases where a species is going extinct. The introduced species may eat so voraciously that they negatively affects numerous other species. The native species may have been keeping a prey species in check that could potentially cause major damage when its predator is removed. I can't answer that, and since it's unlikely the species will recover to its previous numbers, we may find out soon enough.

Going against my usual methods, the main image is directly from the article. It is originally from Cornell University.
The seven-spotted ladybug is from Wikimedia Commons under a creative commons license