Thanks to Roger and Dan for thoughtful commentary. I recommend the
latest work on cranes by the eloquent biologist Paul Johnsgard,
"Sandhill and Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices over America's Wetlands"
(2011), where he observes that sandhills are reoccupying ancestral
breeding areas, including in Ohio. Accompanying this good news, he also
deplores the spread of proposed hunting seasons in the states newly
reoccupied in recent years, including Ohio, where our Wildlife people
seem eager to see that gunfire is one way we should welcome them. Over
the last ten years quite a few isolated spots have hosted crane nests in
our state, in small but steadily increasing numbers, while the Funk
breeders continue to have some good populations.
        As for Ohio's trumpeter swans--who have *no* history of nesting in Ohio
until the recent introductions by our Wildlife people--they may raise
young when only 2-3 years of age, but typically the parents begin at 4-7
years of age (account in The Birds of North America). These swans'
artificial populations winked out at several Ohio sites, and only Ottawa
and Killdeer have supported breeding wild nesting groups, from which a
few birds wander periodically, without--as far as I know--nesting in new
places. The ODW plan ceased carefully monitoring of these populations in
2006, but as recently as 2013 the Division reported 20 breeding pairs.
There's no doubt these birds, alien as breeders in Ohio, impact other
waterfowl; check pond 3 next time you're at Killdeer--they chase all
other waterbirds out when they nest there. And you might ask Wildlife
how many trumps illegally shot have been intercepted at check stations
since 2006.
        As for "managing" crane habitats, I say the more the merrier!
Bill Whan
Columbus


On 6/19/2015 10:59 PM, Dan Sanders wrote:
> Hi Roger . . .  Thanks for your recent post to Ohio Birds about 47
> Sandhill Cranes in the Funk area. As I recall, it was about this same
> time last year that I counted 44 Sandhills in this same area, but on
> the S side of SR. 95. There were no colts among them, and it was my
> conclusion that these were most likely 'non-breeders', perhaps too
> young to breed, though I don't know at what age they become old
> enough to become breeders. About a week ago at Metzger Marsh, we
> counted 13 Sandhills and saw a later report that same day of 17 of
> them at this location. I would presume that theses were also
> non-breeders as no young birds were found. About 2 weeks ago, Ron
> Sempier reported 2 SACR colts at Killdeer Plains WA, so this is the
> time of year that we should be seeing offspring from the breeding
> Sandhills here in Ohio. This just makes you wonder how many pairs of
> breeding Sandhills we may find here in Ohio in the next few years,
> assuming that many of these current non-breeders will remain here in
> Ohio and become breeders. On a similar note, we counted over 70
> Trumpeter Swans in cornfields just South of the Lake Erie marshes,
> along SR 2, in mid-May of last year, when several breeding pairs of
> Trumpeters were observed on nests in the area of Ottawa NWR. And so,
> these were also non-breeding birds; perhaps also not yet sexually
> mature. Of course, some of these non-breeders may have drifted down
> from MI, but with this many recent/current non-breeders, it makes one
> wonder how many breeding pairs of TRSWs there may be here in Ohio
> over the next 10 years or so? And unlike the non-native Ohio Mute
> Swan population, their numbers may not be so easy to 'manage'
> (legally) by ODNR? What impact may their increasing numbers have on
> other species of our Lake Erie marsh breeding bird species? Only time
> will tell . . . Dan
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Doreene Linzell <[log in to unmask]> Date: June 19, 2015
>> at 8:35:21 PM EDT To: Dan Sanders <[log in to unmask]> Subject:
>> Fwd: [Ohio-birds] Sandhill Cranes near Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area,
>> Wayne County
>>
>> FYI
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Roger Troutman"
>> <[log in to unmask]> Date: Jun 19, 2015 8:28 PM Subject:
>> [Ohio-birds] Sandhill Cranes near Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Wayne
>> County To: <[log in to unmask]> Cc:
>>
>> I traveled on St. Rt. 95 going west from Blachleyville towards Funk
>> this late afternoon.
>>
>>
>> There were 47 Sandhill Cranes observed and accurately counted on
>> the north side of the road (not Wildlife Area).They were feeding in
>> the only semi-flooded soybean field to the north of the road.
>>
>> Not much else bird-wise around.  Water is up, including on
>> Wilderness Road to the south. It is impassable beyond the bridge
>> coming from the east. Lane is dry and quite passable to observation
>> tower near Funk.
>>
>> Water should be lowering, making some good shorebird habitat in the
>> next week or 2 - assuming it stops raining and the Mohicanville Dam
>> gates are opened a bit more.
>>
>> Roger Troutman Mansfield Ohio
>>
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