Whooping Crane Sample Clauses

Whooping Crane. In the late 1800s, there were about 1,500 birds in the aspen parkland and prairie regions of Western Canada and the U.S. As human settlement spread westward, the world population dropped to a low of 14-16 in the 1940s. Officials counted 149 whooping cranes in November 1995, the most since the American government began taking censuses in the 1930s. Conservation efforts since 1938 have resulted in a slow increase. Including those in captivity, and 25 cranes in two other wild populations, there are now 320 whooping cranes in the world. In late April, cranes arrive at their breeding area in Wood Buffalo National Park, which extends into northeast Alberta from the North West Territory . By the end of September, the birds leave for the 4,000 km flight south to the Aransas National Wildlife Range in Texas. By gliding on wind currents, they can stay aloft for 10 hours and cover up to 750 km. Cranes eat snails, larval insects, leeches, frogs, minnows, small rodents, and berries. They may scavenge dead ducks, xxxxx birds or muskrats. During migration, they stop to eat aquatic animals, roots of plants and waste grain in stubble fields. In Texas, they eat shellfish, snakes, acorns, small fish and wild fruit. Since 1967, surplus eggs from Wood Buffalo have been hatched and reared in captivity. There are now three breeding populations in captivity, two in the U.S. and one at the Calgary Zoo. The Service concurs with the determination that the Mancos Project area does not support habitat that meets the species needs; and that the proposed water contracts will not have an affect on the Whooping Crane or its required habitat.