Whooping crane population declines 20% in 12 months
The valiant effort to save North America’s biggest bird from extinction has suffered a setback –nearly one-fifth of the cranes have died in the last 12 months. Drought and a wasting disease are the latest threats. 
By Ed Struzik When the world’s last remaining flock of wild whooping cranes set off on its migration south from the nesting grounds on the Alberta/Northwest Territories border last fall, wildlife biologists on both sides of the border were upbeat about how the 4,000-kilometre flight to Texas would turn out. … U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials were scratching their heads early in the new year, wondering why 34 of the birds that were in Canada last summer didn’t show up on the salt marshes of the Gulf coast late last fall. That concern turned to alarm when another 21 birds died over the winter. The recent discovery of yet another seriously injured bird in late March means one-fifth of the population has perished in the last 12 months. What’s more, U.S. Geological Survey researchers have identified the presence of a wasting disease in the endangered flock for the first time. "We’ve had bad years in the past," says Tom Stehn, the U.S. co-ordinator of the whooping crane recovery program. "But in the 26 years that I’ve been involved in this effort, this is easily the worst year I’ve seen. … " Most of the deaths in Texas this year are linked to a protracted drought at Aransas that has resulted in a severe shortage of blue crabs, which are key to the whoopers’ beefing up for the breeding season. "Crabs need fresh water to produce," says Aransas refuge project leader Dan Alonzo. "If the water’s too salty, they quite simply shrivel up and die. So they’re smart enough to migrate out of the marsh when it gets hyper saline during droughts." …
