State: Don't shoot the whooping cranes
It should go without saying: Don't shoot the whooping cranes.
But that's what Kentucky wildlife officials felt compelled to say on Wednesday, alerting the public - and hunters - that these extremely rare and majestic birds are passing through the state once again on their annual fall migration south. They also offered descriptions of the differences between whooping cranes, a federally endangered species, and sandhill cranes, which are not endangered and are subject to hunting in Kentucky starting Saturday.
Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources confirmed the presence of five federally protected whooping cranes in Hopkins County. Whooping cranes also have been spotted in Barren and several other Kentucky counties in the last two weeks, the department said.
Officials cautioned hunters to be mindful of the possibility of whooping cranes in their hunting areas, and to not confuse the two species:
Whooping cranes are solid white with black wingtips. They have a red crown. Adults may have a wingspan of 7 ½ feet and stand up to 5 feet tall on stilted legs. Juvenile birds are similar to the adults, but will have patches of brown or tan mixed in with the white. Both adult and juvenile whooping cranes are currently present in Kentucky. Whooping cranes are similar in silhouette to sandhill cranes. However, sandhill cranes have gray bodies and are smaller than whooping cranes. Whooping cranes may associate with sandhill cranes so caution must be used while hunting sandhill cranes.
The eastern population of whooping cranes migrates between Wisconsin and Florida with their main migration corridor taking them through west-central Kentucky. There are approximately 100 whooping cranes in this population.
Kentucky’s sandhill crane hunting season - which was quite controversial when it was adopted a few years ago - begins Saturday and continues through Jan. 10. or until 400 sandhill cranes have been taken, according to the department.
It's not out of the question that someone would shoot and kill whooping cranes. It seems to happen every year or so somewhere along the route.
Last January, for example, Watchdog Earth reported that federal authorities had increased a reward for a pair of whooping cranes that had been shot by a rifle a couple of months earlier in western Kentucky. Last I checked, authorities had still not identified the illegal hunters.
Crane lovers, don't forget to check on the ultralight aircraft-led migration of six young whoopers making their first migration, as part of Operation Migration, which lets everyone follow along on the internet. Those cranes are now through Kentucky into Tennessee.
Reporter James Bruggers writes the Watchdog Earth blog. Reach him at (502) 582-4645 or at [email protected].