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98 stopovers recorded during the nine radio-tracking surveys from 1981 to 1984 <br />(Table 2 -1) , 76.5 percent were of this type, overnight stops were more common <br />in the fall ( 81.4 percent) than in the spring (69.2 percent). However, longer <br />stopovers are sometimes made In apparent response to fatigue, appeti te, or <br />unfavorable flight conditions. Of the total stopovers, 15.3 percent were for 5 <br />days or longer. <br />Analysis of stopover durations along the migration route (Table 2 -1) further <br />indicates that longer stopovers (5 days or more) during both seasonal <br />migrations occur most frequently in the Canadian portion of the flyway. Based <br />on observations during radio-tracking surveys, 20.7 percent of the fall <br />stopovers in Canada were for 5 days or more, in contrast to 6.7 percent of the <br />fall stopovers in the U.S. During the spring migration, stays of 5 days or <br />more accounted for 30 percent of the Canadian stopovers versus 13.8 percent of <br />the U.S. stopovers. Whooping cranes migrating to and from their breeding and <br />wintering grounds apparently find the relatively remote lakes region of <br />Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta particularly suitable for extended <br />stopovers, perhaps because of the combination of available food and roost <br />sites, as well as the greater isolation afforded by this region. <br />Johnson and Temple (1980, pp. 25 -26) stated that whooping cranes make more long <br />stopovers in Saskatchewan than in places farther south along the migration <br />corridor, and hypothesized that localities within this province were used as <br />staging areas in the fall. That some birds do in fact make prolonged stopovers <br />in Saskatchewan during the fall to feed and prepare for the long migration <br />southward to Aransas NWR, is also supported by observations made during radio- <br />tracking surveys. In fall 1981, a monitored whooping crane family (two adults <br />and one young bi rd) spent 7 to 10 days of thei r 31 -day migration trek i n the <br />Reward -Lusel and area of Saskatchewan feeding in grai of iel ds and watering in <br />ponds (FWS 1981b, P. 10; and Will lams 1981). An additional 4 days of <br />non-migration time was spent near Byers, Texas, but this stopover was <br />apparently prolonged by weather. The narrative report prepared by the pilot of <br />the flight tracking crew (FWS 1981b, p. 9) indicated that the whooping crane <br />family remained in the Byers area because of strong south winds (25 to 35 mph). <br />They attempted one flight, spiraling and flopping for about an hour before <br />settling back to the ground. <br />In fall 1982, a radio-tagged yearling accompanied by three other whooping <br />cranes made a 24 -day stopover in the Watrous, Saskatchewan area after leaving <br />Wood,Buffal o National Park (FWS 1982b, p. 2) . During this time they made two <br />to three trips per day from their roost site on Devil's Lake to feed in <br />surrounding barley fields. The average duration of each feeding trip was 2 to <br />3 hours. Another whooping crane family (two adults and one young) tracked in <br />fall 1982 spent 4 days at Stony Lake, south of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan where* <br />they entered into a similar feeding routine but spent more time foraging In <br />wetlands around the 1 akeshore. Several days 1 ater they made an 8 -day stopover <br />near North Battl eford, Saskatchewan where they roosted on a 5 -acre farm pond <br />and fed In nearby barley and wheat fiel ds (FWS 1982b, p. 3) . <br />During 1983, two radio-tagged yearlings (traveling together) and a family <br />consisting of two adults and a radio-tagged young were tracked during the fall <br />ME <br />