Winter Whooping Cranes

I was surprised to find 3 Whooping Cranes last night at Cheyenne Bottoms in central Kansas. I relocated them this morning and captured a few photos, though they were still distant. One theory is that this is the same family group that was seen ~15 miles away a month ago, though there have been no reported sightings of that group in about a month. It is highly unusual for Whooping Cranes to winter in Kansas. Records show late dates as mid-December, and they normally don't come back through until March. High count was 76 on the morning of 4/1/10 at nearby Quivira NWR. This is a heavy crop, but it does show the cranes on ice, which I suspect is not commonly seen :). The second adult was just out of the frame.

Bob, thanks for sharing this. Must have been exciting to see and photograph them in the wild. Maybe I should have stayed in Kansas!

Rob:

That is pretty amazing! In December 2005 and early January 2006 there was a lone whooping crane clear up here in South Dakota, I photographed it on December 30, 2005. All water was frozen. One day it was gone, we never knew if it finally went south if something else happened to it. There wasn't much snow on the ground but it was cold. The crane seemed to be healthy and could fly very well. Tom Stehn was the whooping crane coordinator for the US FWS, he was amazed to hear about it.

VERY cool! Thanks for posting this!
Sandy

Maybe you caught the ABC segment last night on our crane youngsters coming to Florida. Finally are airborn today, after some bureaucratic snafu resolved.
Expect them here within a few of days if the winds remain favorable.
Check out the St. Marks NWR Assn. site for updates if interested.

It was a great surprise. The birds flew off and haven't been reported since, but they are probably just out in a field somewhere. The traffic sure increased this weekend with people wanting to see the cranes and the Snowy Owls. Doug, your Whooping Crane photographs are beautiful.