Platte River Management Joint Study Final Report

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? ? 12 The Whooping Crane Recovery Te<m established a list of confirmed sightings of whooping cranes tlzat begins with observations in 1942 (USFWS 1986). Sightings which satisfy the necessary criteria are recorded on the confirmed sightings list which is updated by the USFWS at the end of eachmigration season. Sightings prior to 1940 cannot be confirmed according to the criteria described by USFWS (1986). Allen (1952) reported occurrences of the whooping crane in North America including the Platte River from 1899 to 1949. The purpose of his work was to present known evidence af the geographical distribution of the species. Allen qualified his summary by indicat.ing that : . "no acceptable report has been consciously omitted. However, it is inevitable that some perfectly authentic records will not be found 'in the tabulations that follow. In addition to any that have been simply overlooked, many recent reports that are convincing in most respects have not been included because of lack of detail. This lack is chiefly in the description of the birds themselves, their manner of flight, etc. Reports that seemed,weak on identification, or uncertain for other reasons, have been omitted, although some ve:ry old records are included-on rather slim evidence, bot:h because of their obvious historic value and because the presence of the species at the location in question appears logical with relation to time,-- place, and the general pattern of distribution." Al1en (1952) described 35 sightings of whooping cranes on or- along the Platte River between 1912 and 1949. Some records by three observers were accepted and some records by those same observers were rejected by Allen. The distribution data may have been biased because of locations of field observers. Sightings prior to 1949 occurred from the South Platte River near North Platte, Nebraska,. east to near Wood River. Sighting locations since 1949 have ranged from the North Platte River near Lewellen to just east of Grand Island. Sixteen specimens collected on or near the Platte River from 1884 - 1917 were also reported by Allen (1952). Specimens were collected from near Grand Island, Wood River, Prosser, Kearney, Overton, Newark, Elm Creek, Gothenburg, and O.gallala. The number of whooping cranes in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock reached a low of 16 in 1941 (USFWS 1986). There has been a slow but steady increase in numbers in.the last 47 years. By 1. January 1989, there were 150 whooping cranes known from the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock (USFWS, unpubl. data).