Greetings all!

The following report is forwarded with permission from Tom Stehn, USFWS biologist and US Whooping Crane Coordinator.

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August 28, 2006:

I flew yesterday and found the 3 summering whooping cranes all together in 1 group on the southern half of the Aransas NWR. They were on the Cedar Point marsh on Bludworth Island next to the GIWW. They looked much better than they did in the spring, having regained a sleek white appearance having lost the greyish plumage that had indicated an ongoing molt of body feathers.

This was my final flight with contract pilot Tom Talor. He is retiring at age 74 after 52 years of flying. Very few pilots anywhere have more flight experience than does Tom Taylor. We will miss his expert experience and enthusiasm for the cranes. We are working on getting a different pilot approved to resume aerial census flights this winter.

Tom Stehn
Whooping Crane Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Aransas NWR
P.O. Box 100
Austwell, TX 77950
(361) 286-3559 Ext. 221
fax (361) 286-3722
E:mail: tom_stehn@fws.gov

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Where applicable, CWS stands for Canadian Wildlife Service; USFWS is US Fish and Wildlife Service. Crane monitoring involves cooperative efforts and support by both countries, plus many volunteers and non-profit organizations along the way.

Anyone wanting to contact Tom about the report or the whooping crane projects can reach him via email at: tom_stehn@fws.gov. Other information, including archived copies of these reports, can be found at the Texas Whooping Crane web site at http://www.ccbirding.com/

Patty Waits Beasley
Corpus Christi, TX
email: patty@ccbirding.com
web: http://www.ccbirding.com/