[Taxacom] Taxacom Digest, Vol 71, Issue 5

[Gary Anweiler]

Pretty different factors, but all based largely on feed.

I believe the snowy's head south in numbers when the lemming cycles 
dive...in others words, conditions in the far north; the cranes are 
responding to conditions in the south.  Local conditions, but maybe linked 
in a larger, more global or continental climate way?

Gary Anweiler

-----Original Message----- 
From: taxacom-request at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2012 11:00 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Taxacom Digest, Vol 71, Issue 5

Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
taxacom-request at mailman.nhm.ku.edu

You can reach the person managing the list at
taxacom-owner at mailman.nhm.ku.edu

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Taxacom digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. whooping crane migrations (Kenneth Kinman)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:31:10 GMT
From: Kenneth Kinman <kennethkinman at webtv.net>
Subject: [Taxacom] whooping crane migrations
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Message-ID: <COL103-DS203D89DA9F68834A2A7C64A0770 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Dear All,
       It's been a weird year for whooping crane migration.  Mild winter

weather has parts of both the central wild flock and the re-introduced
eastern flock not completing their normal migrations to the coasts.
Some eastern whoopers spending the winter in Indiana and
some central whoopers wintering in Nebraska and Kansas.  And the three
whooping cranes which spent much of December and January in central
Kansas were last seen in Kansas on January 24th and spotted back in
Nebraska on January 27th.

??????So the northward migration here in the central United
States has begun extremely early this year. Been a really weird year,
but perhaps that's a good thing here on the central flyway, since
conditions on the Texas coast (at Aransas) were certainly not very good
this year. Frankly, I think it is probably a good thing that whooper
wintering grounds are expanding, just in case something really bad
happens on the coast during the winter.

??????????Could say that some of the whoopers are
putting "fewer of their eggs in one winter basket."  Sort of like
diversifying a stock portfolio, diversifying where whoopers winter is
probably a good bet. Perhaps they are trying to tell us we still have a
lot to learn about what is best for them in the long run, especially as
weather patterns continue to shift (although in unpredictable ways from
year to year). ?
????????????---------Cheers,
?????????????????????????Ken
Kinman
P.S.  Although it is not surprising that some whooping cranes are
wintering further north this year, it is kind of weird that snowy owls
would be wintering far to the south the same year.  Probably shows just
how desperate some snowy owls are to avoid overcrowding or other
pressures in the Arctic and seeking food far to the south.  Who would
have thought one could have had so many snowy owls wintering in the same

areas as whooping cranes in the United States.  Very weird, but perhaps
global warming will have other weird surprises in the years to come
(although certainly not every year).  Next year could return to normal
(no whooping cranes wintering with snowy owls).





------------------------------

_______________________________________________

Taxacom Mailing List

Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu

http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom

The entire Taxacom Archive back to 1992 can be searched with either of these 
methods:

http://taxacom.markmail.org

Or use a Google search specified as: 
site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here

End of Taxacom Digest, Vol 71, Issue 5
**************************************