Wisconsin Cranes: Challenges for Whooping and Greater Sandhills in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is home to 2 native crane species, the greater sandhill and the whooping crane. While they share many of the same behavioral and ecological traits, sandhill cranes are increasing enough to be shot for causing crop damage, while the whooping crane is near extinction in the wild with only about 800 birds remaining. Starting in 2001, whooping cranes which had been eliminated from Wisconsin were released in central Wisconsin to try to establish a migratory flock.  For the past decade, Shelli Dubay and her grad students have been investigating causes of low nest success in Wisconsin’s whooping cranes. They also have been using information from sandhill cranes to aid in studying whooping cranes. Come join us as Shelli unravels the differences between the 2 species that has led to the precarious status of the whooping crane and why recovery has been so difficult for the bird.

Dr. Shelli Dubay has been a professor of wildlife at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point since 2005 where she teaches courses in wildlife management techniques, wildlife diseases, and captive wildlife management.  Author of more than 30 scientific publications on everything from flying squirrels to red-shouldered hawks, she also has worked for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Arizona Game and Fish Department.