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for >75% of records in all states except Nebraska; in that state, the proportions of observations occurring <br />on palustrine and riverine systems were both high (56.0 and 39.6% of state records, respectively). Roost <br />sites were most common on riverme systems only in Nebraska, primarily the Platte, Niobrara, and North <br />and Middle Loup rivers. Most of the whooping cranes found on riverine roosts were singles or'nonfamily <br />groups, particularly on the Platte, but we found no strong pattern in social groups on riverine roost sites, or <br />on feeding and dual -use sites. Whooping cranes were most commonly observed on wetlands having <br />seasonal and semipermanent water regimes. Cranes were observed on wide range of wetland sizes in both <br />spring and fall, with no apparent pattern relative to social groups. River widths ranged from 30 to 500 in <br />and averaged 248 + 95 yards (SD). <br />Many of the results in this study concur with earlier reports. Maximum depths of wetlands on <br />which cranes were observed averaged 20.0 + 16.3 inches, while specific sites within wetlands where cranes <br />were observed feeding or roosting averaged 7.1 + 4.2 inches. Most wetland shorelines were classified as <br />having a slight slope (1 — <5 % slope). In riverine systems, roosting cranes were more often observed on <br />unvegetated sites than on sites having vegetation, but palustrine roost sites had a broad range of emergent <br />vegetation types. Most feeding sites were described as upland crops whereas dual -use sites were more <br />often wetlands. On upland crop sites, wheat comprised 83% of grain stubble, corn comprised about 75% <br />of rowcrop stubble, and winter wheat comprised 80% of green crops. Habitats adjacent to roost sites (<1 <br />mi) were most frequently described as cropland (73.8 %) and upland permanent cover (69.5 %). Woodland <br />habitat occurred adjacent to >70% of riverine roost sites but <8% of palustrine roost sites. There was little <br />difference in the frequency distribution of social groups among permanent wetlands, cropland, and upland <br />cover. We detected no patterns in distance between roost and the closest feeding sites. More than two - <br />thirds of sites where cranes were observed were within 0.5 mi of human developments. Nearly half of the <br />roost sites and two- thirds of feeding sites had visibilities <0.25 mi. Private ownership accounted for >60% <br />of sites used by whooping cranes, and >80% of feeding sites were on private land, reflecting the high use of <br />2 <br />