UNUSUAL MOVEMENTS AND BEHAVIORS OF COLOR-BANDED WHOOPING CRANES DURING WINTER

Color-banding of whooping cranes (Grus americana) has allowed individual recognition of \u3e45% of the population between 1985 and 1990 and has provided the opportunity to monitor individual movements and behaviors. Unusual occurrences have included: 5 whooping crane juveniles that separated from their parents prior to reaching the wintering grounds, a sandhill crane (G. canadensis) juvenile wintering with a whooping crane pair, whooping cranes that oversummered at Aransas, a widowed crane that paired with a new mate within 48 hours, 2 cranes that did not reach the wintering grounds until 3 years of age, a known nesting pair that spent much of the winter apart but nested together again the following summer, 2 juveniles that were abandoned at the beginning of or during spring migration, and a whooping crane that left the wintering area in January but returned in March