ZIMS at Work: Whooping Cranes Released to Coastal Habitats

Species360 members International Crane Foundation and Audubon Nature Institute raised young cranes being released this month to protected Gulf of Mexico coastal habitats.

There is nothing quite like seeing distinctive whooping cranes take flight across natural wetlands. This month, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Species360 members International Crane Foundation, Audubon Species Survival Center, Audubon Nature Institute, a new generation of whooping cranes is joining non-migratory flocks now thriving in protected Louisiana wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico, North America.

Whooping cranes disappeared from this region in 1950 and remained absent for more than sixty years. That changed in 2011 when 10 whooping cranes were released to the protected White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, the White Lake WCA supports migrant passerine birds, shorebirds, wading birds, rails, gallinules and many species of raptors as well as large breeding rookeries of wading birds.

The young cranes coming to White Lake WCA this fall were hatched, raised, and transferred by International Crane Foundation and Audubon Species Survival Center experts. These organizations use Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) to support the care and welfare of individuals and groups, and curate and share species data critical to population management.

Learn more about the cranes’ release, at The Fishing Wire.

We are grateful for the critical contribution of our members to species conservation. Thanks for all that you do.