Whooping crane stopover site use intensity within the Great Plains

摘要: Whooping cranes (Grus americana) of the AransasWood Buffalo population migrate twice each year through Great Plains in North America. Recovery activities for this endangered species include providing adequate places to stop and rest during migration, which are generally referred as stopover sites. To assist recovery efforts, initial estimates site use intensity presented, provide opportunity identify areas across migration range used more intensively by whooping cranes. We location data acquired from 58 unique individuals fitted with platform transmitting terminals that collected global position system locations. Radio-tagged birds provided 2,158 sites over 10 migrations 5 years (2010–14). Using a grid-based approach, we identified 1,095 20-square-kilometer grid cells contained categorized occupied based on density amount time spent area. This assessment resulted four categories use: unoccupied, low intensity, core extended-use intensity. Although provisional, evaluation offers U.S. Fish Wildlife Service partners tool landscapes may be greater conservation significance migrating Initially, will other interested parties evaluating Wind Energy Habitat Conservation Plan.