Each fall, whooping cranes head to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. During the 2021-22 season, a record number of the birds stopped in Texas' wintering grounds after flying from Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park.
Estimates of the whooping crane population at the refuge near Austwell last winter included 543 whooping cranes, 31 of which were juveniles, which was an increase from the 506 whooping cranes observed during the 2019-20 season, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported in a release. The area surveyed is over 160,000 acres.
"It is exciting to see another record year as whooping cranes continue to increase in number and expand their winter range," Wade Harrell, USFWS' whooping crane recovery coordinator, said in the release. "Next year, we will be adding the South San Jose Island and Heron Flats Secondary Survey areas to our Primary Survey area given we detected enough whooping crane groups there to meet our protocol for inclusion. Conserving additional winter habitat for the species will be a key component of future recovery efforts."
COVID-19 concerns stopped the survey for the 2020-2021 season, as it would have created unsafe working conditions for personnel involved, the USFWS reported in a 2021 release.
"Aerial surveys involve a pilot and at least two observers in a small plane for up to four hours at a time," Harrell said in the release. "Due to the close exposure this survey requires and the fact that our pilots and observers often travel in for this effort from different parts of the country, we decided to forgo the aerial survey this winter with COVID-19 cases currently spiking. Fortunately, missing one survey year out of many will not significantly affect our ability to monitor long-term population trends while maintaining the health and safety of our staff. Further, other activities conducted by our partners can help fill information gaps that may occur."
Aside from whooping cranes, numerous animals call the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge home, including the Atlantic Ridley sea turtle and the American alligator, the USFWS reported on its site.
