John Pauley from Prairie Restorations stopped by my office at GBM last week and told me about the pair of whooping cranes that he spotted in the Carleton Arb recently. There are only 400 of these birds in the wild.
He sent me photos taken by Arb Director Nancy Braker. I’ve taken the liberty to crop 4 of them. See the stories on the Carleton site:
Thanks, Griff, for calling attention to this signting! They’re amazing birds. Last spring, I visited the International Crane Foundation ourside Bariboo and recommend it to folks travelling in that area.
[…] And lo and behold, there are whooping cranes in the Carleton Arb: Photos: Whooping cranes in the Arb […]
Seems whooping cranes also mingle with sandhill cranes. There is a nesting pair of sandhill cranes near Belle Plaine, near Sibley Co. Rd.6, the Scenic Byway, that has produced a fledgling this year.
And warm off the press in Grand Forks, word from USFWS that transmission lines should be buried near Whooping Crane habitat:
http://nocapx2020.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/switch-to-underground-cablewhooping-cranes.pdf
THANK YOU for this info — This post is perfect timing for next week’s CapX 2020 hearing regarding the Minnesota River Crossing and both sides.
Hope we don’t have an outbreak of whooping cough in town! 😉
Whooping cranes or Sand Hill Cranes(not sure which) seen near Henderson/Le Sueur too. Perhaps the same pair that nested off C. Rd. 6 this year…. I’m not sure of that, however. They were seen in flight about 1/2 mile out of Henderson and again about another mile south.
I was reading on the NoCAPX2020 website that one of the proposed transmission lines is just a couple miles north of the Carleton Arb where whooping cranes have been seen. Is local media picking up on this? There is an Oct. 18 comment deadline on the Brookings route slated to come through our area and I, for one, am not up to speed.
Oh, John! Terrible. 🙂
Holly- I’ve been craning my neck to see if anyone would respond. Thanks!