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The flock lost one crane during this winter’s stay, a year after the worst die-off on record for the bird. Despite scarce food supplies along the Texas coast, federal biologists expect 263 cranes to migrate to Canada in the coming weeks.
“It was a hard winter for them, but it was better than last year,” said Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The cranes really dodged a bullet.”
Whooping cranes are known for snowy-white bodies with black wingtips and crimson crowns, as well as their height of nearly 6 feet. They feast on wolfberries and blue crabs in the marshes along the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge each winter before traveling 2,400 miles to their breeding grounds.
The previous winter was a particularly bad one for the cranes, with a record 23 birds, nearly 10 percent of the flock, dying of starvation or related problems.
Federal and state wildlife biologists blamed the die-off on a dry spell that reduced the Guadalupe River’s flow so severely that the supply of fresh water and food dwindled in the San Antonio and Aransas Bay system.
The scientists predicted another tragic year for the iconic bird because of food shortages. Rains broke the two-year drought, but not in time for a healthy return of blue crabs — the cranes’ main protein source .
The crabs need a certain amount of fresh water to live, and the low flow from the Guadalupe made the estuary too salty for them.
With crabs in short supply, some cranes moved upland for snails and other sources of food this year. But more fresh water reached the marshes than last year, when already weakened cranes had to fly farther and expend more energy to find places to drink.
Tommy Moore, who guides the tour boat Skimmer out of Fulton, said he could see the breast bones of malnourished cranes in the thick of the drought. They look healthier now, he said.
“It’s amazing how quickly things turned around,” Moore said after watching a crane pull a crab out of the marsh on a recent tour.
But Moore and others are fearful of a return to drought conditions and higher salinity in the cranes’ habitat, saying Texas is allowing too many withdrawals of fresh water from the Guadalupe by cities, agriculture and business.
The Aransas Project, an alliance of local governments and conservation groups, filed suit this week against state regulators to ensure enough fresh water reaches the bay, especially during dry times.
“I’m so glad that the birds are doing better this year,” said Ron Outen, a Rockport resident who is director of the Aransas Project. “But we’re not out of trouble yet.”
On a recent aerial survey of the cranes’ habitat, Stehn observed a high number of cranes upland of their usual feeding grounds — a sign that there were not enough blue crabs in the marshes. An adult whooping crane can eat up to 80 crabs a day.
Unlike last year, federal and state wildlife officers did not supplement the cranes’ diet with corn from game feeders. Still, about 30 cranes have left the refuge to eat from backyard feeders — unusual for a species known to be aloof.
Debra Corpora, president of the Aransas Bird and Nature Club, said the sight of endangered cranes in yards, out of the protection of the refuge, is unsettling.
“If there were wolfberries and crabs,” she said, “they wouldn’t eat corn.”
Stehn isn’t alarmed by the cranes’ new interest in corn because they need to eat. “It’s an important time. They need a boost of energy for migration.”