Tallahassee whooping cranes

[bman]

Very cool birds!
There are some hanging out on a pond in Southwood across from the intersection of Biltmore Ave and endicott Drive...
Are these the same birds? Saw them last week.

[Rhettley]

Very cool pictures. It amazes me the number of different species of cranes, ibis, storks, etc., we are getting now, even on my place up in SWGA. I usually have about 300 sandhill cranes spend the winter there. They couldn't this year because the drought dried up the pond again.

[Mister Mullet]

They taste like chicken.

[Cranfield]

Nice pictures and they are beautiful birds.

Do they have to be caught up to read the rings on their legs, or can they be identified from a distance ?

[MudDucker]

Nice birds, but these are why we don't get to shot the sandhill cranes on the east coast. Sandhills are known as the ribeye of the sky.

[fly n fish]

You will notice the antenna extending downward from the transmitter on the left leg. Each has a distinct signal to identify the individual bird. The other bands color code identifies the bird visually. They will probably leave for Wisconsin the next strong south wind day we have.

[Rhettley]

The Whooping Crane (Grus americana), the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The Whooping Crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild. After being pushed to the brink of extinction by unregulated hunting and loss of habitat to just 21 wild and two captive Whooping Cranes by 1941, conservation efforts have led to a limited recovery. As of 2011, there are an estimated 437 birds in the wild and more than 165 in captivity. There are about 100 birds in the eastern migration.

Bobcats and coyotes are the biggest threat. There have been 5 shot and killed the last couple of years. There were two shot near Leary, GA and I don't believe they ever got who did it. The reward was over $20,000 last I heard but nobody in the area seemed to know anything about it... The birds were found dumped after being shot with a shot gun. I'm guessing someone thought they were Sandhill Cranes and when they figured out what they had actually killed they dumped the birds. Sounds like teenagers to me as they didn't even bother to bury them or hide them. They just tossed them out in some area woods beside a road.

I would like to see a Sandhill Crane season but I doubt it will happen until people get more used to seeing these birds and can tell the difference. If a hunter can ID a duck zipping through a spread, it shouldn't be much problem to see the difference on the cranes, except maybe for the juveniles which might present a problem.