ALLEN PARISH, La. – Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries posted on their Facebook page a video showing the capture of a male whooping crane who had a broken tracker. Male L1-13 was the last capture for the fall/winter season.
In early November, when wildlife agents caught L1-13 ‘s chick, LW3-18, they noticed that the antenna on his transmitter had been broken and needed to be replaced. However, despite repeated tries over the next few months agents couldn’t get anywhere near him. But then breeding season hormones kicked in, the chick left, and he and his mate built and were defensive of the nest platform seen in the video.
Read below for some statistics on the season.
– 14 cranes (5 males, 8 females) were caught between 1 November and 5 February
– 7 were caught by hand and the other 7 were caught with our leg noose
– 4 were wild-hatched chicks receiving their first bands, while the remaining 10 were caught so transmitters could be changed
– the 14 cranes ranged in age from 6 months to 7.5 years old
– LA whooping cranes are big and healthy with their weights ranging from 6.5-8.78 kilograms (14.3 – 19.4 pounds)
