Have you checked out the Citizen Science page? Spring is a great time to help scientists monitor whats happening with plants and animals in our area. We are going to start adding citizen science opportunities and requests for data and observations on the blog while keeping an updated list of such requests on the Citizen Science page for easy access. Don’t forget to also help us keep track of phenology happenings through the Phenology Calendar!
Our first request for the blog is for breeding Sandhill Crane observations
Sandhill Cranes
Background: Two separate management populations of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) breed in Minnesota, the Mid-Continent Population (MCP) and the Eastern Population (EP). Historically, the breeding range for the MCP was in northwestern Minnesota, while the breeding range for the EP was east-central Minnesota. Over the past decade, both populations have expanded their breeding range within in Minnesota with the MCP range expanding to the southeast and the EP range expanding in all directions. Data from the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas indicate that the breeding ranges for the two populations may have intersected. Stakeholders are interested in assessing if the breeding ranges currently overlap. Determining if overlap exists could have important management implications especially since there has been a hunting season for MCP cranes in Minnesota over the past 4 years.
Research: The Minnesota DNR, Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, the University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have received funding to assess the possible overlap of breeding ranges for the two populations. Cellular-based GPS transmitters will be placed on cranes breeding near the tension zone between the two populations. We will determine which population they belong to when the cranes migrate in the fall. Those migrating through Nebraska will belong to the MCP, while those migrating to the Southeast U.S. will belong to the EP. Besides determining if the populations overlap, we will also determine habitat use, migration chronology, and home range size.
Assistance Needed: We need your assistance in locating territorial, breeding pairs of sandhill cranes in the following counties during the 2014 and 2015 breeding seasons (April-July): Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clay, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Itasca, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, St. Louis, Todd, Wadena, Wilkin. If you see a pair of cranes, please record: date observation (e.g., territorial pair, nest, brood), location (latitude and longitude coordinates or other directions), and land ownership (public or private). We are targeting pairs of cranes, but also record other locations with consistent use by groups of cranes.
Please forward your sightings to David Wolfson, the University of Minnesota graduate student who will be working on this project. You can reach him via email at wolfs064@umn.edu or by phone at 574-360-9723.
Ely Field Naturalists 