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<br />base of the bill is pink or rosaceous, and the iris of the eye is yellow, The legs and feet are
<br />gray-black.
<br />
<br />The juvenile plumage is a reddish cinnamon color. At age 80-100 days, the chick is capable
<br />of sustained flight. At age 120 days, white feathers begin to appear on the neck and back,
<br />Juvenile plumage is replaced through the winter months. The plumage is predominantly
<br />white by the following spring and the dark red crown, lores, and malar areas are apparent.
<br />Rusty juvenile plumage remains only on the head, the upper neck, secondary wing coverts,
<br />and scapulars (Stephenson 1971). Yearlings achieve typically adult plumage late in their
<br />second summer,
<br />
<br />B. Distribution
<br />
<br />Historical Distribution: Fossilized remains from the Upper Pliocene in Idaho (Miller 1944,
<br />Feduccia 1,967), and from the Pleistocene in California, Kansas, and Florida (Wetmore 1931,
<br />1966) appear inseparable from the present form. Current evidence indicates that the
<br />historical ranga extended from the Arctic coast south to central Mexico, and from Utah east
<br />to New Jersey, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (Allen 1962, Nasbitt 1982).
<br />Distribution of these fossil remains suggests a wider distribution during the Pleistocene,
<br />
<br />Allen (1962:83) estimated that the whooping crane population in "...1860, or possibly
<br />1870, totalled between 1300 and 1400 individuals," Banks (1978), using two independent
<br />techniques, derived estimates of 600 to 700 whooping cranes present in 1870 (Banks, R.C.
<br />1978. The size of the early whooping crane populations, UnpubliShed report. U,S, Fish
<br />and Wildlife Service files. 10 pp.), Regardless of the precise number, the whooping crane
<br />was uncommon, and its numbers rapidly declined by the late 19th century. By 1937, only
<br />two small breeding populations remained--a nonmigratory population which inhabited the
<br />area around White Lake in southwestern Louisiana, ,and a migratory population, hereafter
<br />called the AransaslWood Buffalo Population (AWP)" which wintered on the Aransas Nationa/
<br />Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in coastal Texas and nested in an unknown location, The remnant
<br />Louisiana population was reduced from 13 to 6 bird~ following a hurricane in August 1940,
<br />and the last individual was taken into captivity in M~rch 1960,
<br />
<br />The AWP was counted each winter in Texas after the Aransas NWR was established in
<br />1937 (Table 1), Limitations on the use of aircraft during World War II made census difficult,
<br />but the only obvious disparity occurred in the winter of 1946-46, when the survey count
<br />was four birds less than the number of white-plumaged birds returning the following fall.
<br />
<br />The principal breeding range in the mid 1800',s exte!lded from centra/Illinois northwestward
<br />through northern Iowa, western Minnesota, northea$tern North Dakota, southern Manitoba,
<br />and Saskatchewan, to the general vicinity of Edmoriton, Alberta (Fig, 1). Some nesting
<br />apparently occurred at other sites such as Wyoming in the 1900's, but documentation is
<br />limited (Allen 1962, Kemsies 1930), The whooping crane disappeared from the heart of its
<br />breeding range in the north-central United States by the 1890's. The last documented
<br />nesting in the aspen parklands of Canada occurred at Eagle Lake (now called Kiyiu Lake),
<br />
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