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Photo © Ryan Hagerty
Whooping Crane (Grus americana) is one of two crane species native to North America. They depend on large, open wetland ecosystems to eat, roost, and make their nests. Whooping Cranes were extirpated from the Midwest and are listed as Federally Endangered. The Wisconsin DNR, along with other members of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), is working to restore an eastern migratory population of whooping cranes that migrates annually between its Wisconsin breeding grounds and its wintering habitat in the southern United States. This species is not actively tracked in the Natural Heritage Inventory Database, but it could be tracked in the future if there is further evidence of its decline.
The table below provides information about the protected status - both state and federal - and the rank (S and G Ranks) for Whooping Crane (Grus americana). See the Working List Key for more information about abbreviations. Counties shaded blue have documented occurrences for this species in the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory database. The map is provided as a general reference of where occurrences of this species meet NHI data standards and is not meant as a comprehensive map of all observations.
Note: Species recently added to the NHI Working List may temporarily have blank occurrence maps.
| Summary Information | |
|---|---|
| State Status | SC/FL |
| Federal Status in Wisconsin | NEP |
| State Rank | SXB |
| Global Rank | G1 |
| Tracked by NHI | W |
| WWAP | SGCN |
A guidance document is not available at this time. However, the bird calendar [PDF] contains dates for avoiding impacts to this and other rare Wisconsin birds when planning management activities.
Click to view a larger version. Please considering donating a photo to the Natural Heritage Conservation Program for educational uses. Photo use
An attempt is being made to restore a breeding population of the globally rare Whooping Crane to remote portions of Central Wisconsin.
Photo © Ryan Hagerty.
Whooping Cranes at Aransas NWR.
Photo © Steve Hillebrand.
Whooping Crane
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Photo © Laura Erickson.
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
The table below lists the natural communities that are associated with Whooping Crane. Only natural communities for which Whooping Crane is "high" (score=3) or "moderate" (score=2) associated are shown. See the key to association scores for complete definitions. Please see the Wildlife Action Plan to learn how this information was developed.
| Natural community | Score |
|---|---|
| Emergent Marsh | 3 |
| Submergent Marsh | 3 |
| Central Poor Fen | 2 |
| Floating-leaved Marsh | 2 |
| Moist Sandy Meadow | 2 |
| Muskeg | 2 |
| Northern Sedge Meadow | 2 |
| Open Bog | 2 |
| Poor Fen | 2 |
| Southern Sedge Meadow | 2 |
The table below lists the ecological landscape association scores for Whooping Crane. The scores correspond to the map (3=High, 2=Moderate, 1=Low, 0=None). For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
| Ecological landscape | score |
|---|---|
| Central Sand Hills | 3 |
| Central Sand Plains | 3 |
| Southeast Glacial Plains | 3 |
| Western Coulee and Ridges | 2 |
| Western Prairie | 1 |
Ecological priorities are the combinations of natural communities and ecological landscapes that provide Wisconsin's best opportunities to conserve important habitats for a given Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The 10 highest scoring combinations are considered ecological priorities and are listed below. More than 10 combinations are listed if multiple combinations tied for 10th place. For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
* Ecological priority score is a relative measure that is not meant for comparison between species. This score does not consider socio-economical factors that may dictate protection and/or management priorities differently than those determined solely by ecological analysis. Further, a low ecological priority score does not imply that management or preservation should not occur on a site if there are important reasons for doing so locally.
Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the WWAP because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.