We'll see if they nest together in 1997. It is thought that divorces occur among whooping cranes sometimes when a pair are unsuccessful at producing young that survive. It is a survival instinct. This couple was together for 5 years and never produced a chick that lived more than about 3 months. It has been a good winter for the cranes.
Blue crabs are the whoopers' favorite food item.
Despite a drought in South Texas enough blue crabs were present in the crane marshes to feed the birds throughout the winter. Although the crabs' numbers have declined the last few months, I hope the whoopers have built up enough energy reserves to have a successful nesting season. We think this was because they weren't in good enough condition. I'll continue to do an aerial census every week in order to document when the whooping cranes start to migrate. On March 4 we found all 158 whoopers still here.