Whooping Crane Sightings during Fall Migration, 1993

During the summer of 1993, an all-time record of 45 whooping-crane nests were confirmed on the breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park. Suspected mortality included two nesting females. A total of 143 whooping cranes (127 adult/subadult and 16 young) arrived at Aransas between October 20 and November 22. As of December 30, five juveniles were missing and presumed dead. The only verified mortality during migration was a crane near Midland, Texas which died November 5 after apparently flying into a fence. The first dates for confirmed observations of migrating whooping cranes were August 16 in Saskatchewan, Canada, and September 17 in North Dakota; the last sighting date was November 1 in Texas. Sightings were reported from Saskatchewan (28), Montana (1), North Dakota (3), South Dakota (4), Nebraska (8), Kansas (8), Oklahoma (5), and Texas (1)