From Texas to Fort Smith, a photographer documents the migration of whooping cranes


The team set up 12 cameras along the migration corridor from Texas to Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories; and each camera will take a photo every half hour for a year. Their plane was also fitted with go-pro cameras on each wing, on the tail and in the cockpit.

The whooping crane is often considered a species conservation success. On the brink of extinction in the 1940s and 1950s, a small group of whooping cranes has grown since the 1970s, in part through an international effort, to around 508 birds in 2018.

Cranes spend the winter months along the Texas coast in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and nest in the wetlands of Wood Buffalo National Park during the summer months. The first camera was therefore placed at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the last at Wood Buffalo Park.

You can see the seasons change, you can see the weather change. […] You can bring the earth to life in a way that makes it a living, breathing thing. »

A quote from Mike Forsberg, photographer

The team of Mike Forsberg, pilot Chris Boyer from Montana and ground operations coordinator Jeff Dale from Nebraska, left Texas by land and air on April 6 and arrived at Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories Monday.

The team moved according to the outside conditions just as the cranes do when on the move. Mike Forsberg plans to write a book about this experience, create educational resources and possibly a documentary.

Indigenous knowledge

In Fort Smith, Mike Firsberg met with Ronnie Schaefer, a local whooping crane specialist, to gather information on local nesting habitat and crane behaviors from an Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge perspective.

Ronnie Schaefer was able to share what he learned from observation and oral history about the northern crane diet of snails, frogs and snakes, which Mike Forsberg says was previously unknown southern biologists.

An aerial shot of whooping cranes flying in the sky over Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta.

Wood Buffalo National Park is the last place where whooping cranes naturally breed. It is also home to one of the largest herds of wood bison.

Photo: Associated Press/Joe Duff

Ronnie Schaefer said the Salt River First Nation, where some of the cranes are nesting, intended to employ a conservation officer to monitor the area, but that was not done.

The specialist is concerned about the traffic of campers in the nesting area during the long weekends in May and August. In the past, he’s put up signs to educate people about endangered species in the area, but finds they’re mostly used as practice targets.

If you can bring [les gens] to appreciate [les grues]so maybe they can appreciate them enough to care. »

A quote from Mike Forsberg, photographer

In May, Mike Forsberg plans to photograph a whooping crane nest. He will stay in a hide for 10 days, without going out, to minimize the impact on the habitat of the crane and other wildlife.

For Mike Forsberg, following the cranes in their 320 km wide migration corridor was a powerful experience. This is an important time to tell the story of these birdshe said. This is the last group of truly wild migrating birds, if this group didn’t exist we wouldn’t have whooping cranes on the planet.

Based on information from Carla Ulrich



Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca

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