The first whooping crane arrival at Aransas was reported the afternoon of October 20th. USFWS Pilot/Biologists Jim Bredy and Patrick Walther spotted the single crane on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge while doing an aerial waterfowl survey. The bird was in the east shore marshes about 1 mile west of Wynne's Cut. At present, we know of only the single
crane to be at Aransas, although only about 2/3's of the crane area was covered during the aerial waterfowl census.

The October 20th sighting is just 4 days after the average first whooping crane arrival date of October 16th. A cold front with north winds that reached Aransas on October 17th presumably helped the crane complete the 2,400 mile migration. The next cold front is forecast to reach Aransas on October 23 and should bring more whooping cranes.

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.