Kapitel 8: Anhang
Febraur 2007
T
he Aransas-Wood Buffalo population (AWBP) continued its historic growth with a record production year in 2006. A total of 76 chicks hatched from a record 62 nests, and 49 chicks fledged, including 8 sets of twins. Forty-five chicks made it to Aransas, including a record 7 sets of twins. Numbers at Aransas in the 2006-07 winter reached a record high of 237, up 23 from the previous spring. However, an estimated 22 cranes died between April and November, the second consecutive year of high mortality.
In a horrible tragedy in February, 17 of the ultralight-led whooping crane juveniles died in their pen in the Florida salt marsh at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) during a violent storm that also claimed the lives of 20 people. Lightning apparently struck 150 feet away from the birds, stunning the cranes and they fell into the flood waters and drowned. As a symbol of hope for the continued struggle to recover the species, one crane escaped from the pen and survived. The loss of the 17 cranes and other mortality dropped the total number of wild and captive whooping cranes in North America down from 518 in mid-December to 487 at the end of March, 2007.
