GPS Trackers a Big Whoop for Cranes
April 2, 2010
Whooping cranes that winter in Texas and nest in Alberta are being outfitted with GPS tracking devices to better determine the cause behind high mortality rates in the endangered bird.
As reported in the Washington Post, a census of whooping cranes conducted in spring 2009 as the birds were preparing to head north showed that 57 had disappeared compared to the previous year. Twenty-three of them died on the wintering grounds at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, on the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas. The rest apparently died during migration.
The whooping crane was almost extinct in 1941, with only 14 or 15 birds. At five feet tall, whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America and among the rarest, with only about 250 known to be surviving in the wild.
The birds were outfitted with the trackers at the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust, a non-profit organization devoted to the protection and enhancement of habitats for cranes and other migratory birds, located in the Platte River Valley, Nebraska. Every six hours each tracker transmits the bird's position. If a crane's location doesn't change for 24 hours, the scientists monitoring the data go looking for the bird.
To hear the famous whoop, listen here.
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