Re: [Paddlewise] Nature

> From: CHUCK_at_multitech.com (Chuck Holst)

> I once
> saw a snowy owl sitting at the base of Palisade Head on Lake
> Superior. I have heard that they sometimes hang out around the
> grain terminals in Duluth to feed on mice. They are very striking
> birds (no pun intended).
> 
> Chuck Holst  


Paddling the Aransas Pass Wildlife Refuge near Corpus Christi, we had
a pair of whooping cranes fly right over our heads!  The rare whooping
crane makes this its winter home.  Their migratory habits are interesting.  
I am particularly interested in whoopers which are the tallest of all 
North American birds (5 feet standing), are quite beautiful, are still 
endangered but are making a slow comeback.  In 1941 their numbers fell 
to around 14 or 16.  After establishing refuges for the species and 
other recovery plans enacted by the US and Canadian Whooping Crane 
Recovery, the numbers are in the hundreds (not all in the wild, however).  
Late February is the height of the migratory season in Aransas Pass then 
they head back north to Canada. 

US Fish and Wildlife Service has established a nesting ground in 
Kissimmee Prairie in Florida.

One plan was to attempt to imprint on whooping crane chicks the 850-mile
migratory route of sandhill cranes from Grays Lake National Wildlife
Refuge in Idaho to Bosque Del Apache national Wildlife in New Mexico in
order to establish additional migratory routes for the whooping cranes.  
To do this, researchers placed the eggs of whooping cranes into the nests
of the Sandhill cranes who would raise them, teach them to fly south
with the flock and begin a new colony of whooping cranes.  Problem was,
the imprinting was so complete that the whooping cranes would not mate
with other whooping cranes. 8-}   

If you want to know more about whoopers, check out the following (also
gives launch points to paddle the area near the refuge and lots of links) 

   http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/info.html#info3


Cheers!

Jackie
  

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