This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.

Wildlife

Wood Buffalo National Park reports record number of whooping crane fledglings

Conservation managers at the park reported 63 new fledglings of the endangered bird this year
  • Aug 18, 2017
  • 332 words
  • 2 minutes
whooping crane twins and their parents Expand Image
Advertisement

Canada’s endangered whooping crane population appears to be on the rebound, with Wood Buffalo National Park reporting a record high number of fledglings this year. At 63 new birds, this number beats the previous record set in 2006 of 49 birds.

“We were hoping for big numbers after we counted 98 nests this spring,” says Sharon Irwin, a resource conservation manager at the park. “It’s quite a jump from last year.”

Not only are there more fledglings this year, but the species productivity — a measure of new chicks per population size — was much larger than average. Four pairs of twins were also found — an exceptionally high number.

Irwin says this year’s number of fledglings is particularly high probably because of the large juvenile population born between 2010 and 2012. Those individuals have now reached breeding age and started their own nests. “You get years where we have fewer nests or fewer fledglings, but it definitely has been a steady upward climb,” she says.

In the spring, researchers do aerial surveys of the whooping crane’s habitat and make note of where nesting sites are found. Later in the summer, they survey the sites again and count the number of new fledglings.

The whooping crane was listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2003, after decades of habitat loss and over-hunting had decimated their population. In the 1940s, their global population had dropped to just 21 individuals. Irwin estimates the Wood Buffalo National Park population – the only naturally wild population – has now climbed to over 400 individuals. In the fall, the whooping cranes will migrate south to Aransas Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

SARA’s long term recovery goal is to establish 1,000 whooping cranes by 2035. “There’s still a ways to go, but we’re definitely getting closer to numbers that will save them from disaster,” says Irwin.

To further their conservation research, 10 fledglings have been tagged with telemetry bands to track the birds on their migration route and assess potential risks they might face. 

Advertisement

Are you passionate about Canadian geography?

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Related Content

A crowd of tourist swarm on a lakeside beach in Banff National Park

Places

Smother Nature: The struggle to protect Banff National Park

In Banff National Park, Alberta, as in protected areas across the country, managers find it difficult to balance the desire of people to experience wilderness with an imperative to conserve it

  • 3507 words
  • 15 minutes
Andy McKinnon

Places

Canada’s first national urban park

It’s an ambitious plan: take the traditional Parks Canada wilderness concept and plunk it in the country’s largest city. But can Toronto’s Rouge National Urban Park help balance city life with wildlife?

  • 3601 words
  • 15 minutes

Places

National parks beginning to reopen across the country

Not all, but many of Canada's national parks will reopen to some extent on June 1

  • 438 words
  • 2 minutes
Gordon Hempton records audio in Grasslands National Park

Science & Tech

The sounds of silence 

A sound artist listens for quiet in Grasslands National Park

  • 5035 words
  • 21 minutes