Let’s migrate like whooping cranes!

Background/Question/Methods . The migration ecology of the only wild endangered population of Whooping Cranes along the North American territory is a very interesting and complex process that involves an international geographical framework, wetlands use, energetics, and ecological impacts along the central flyway. We designed an interactive educational activity to explain the migration ecology of this endangered bird. Through this game participants can visualize what is happening to this population at the wintering and breeding grounds and during migration. This is a small “rally” to be developed in a classroom or outdoor, by a small or large group of students from Middle Elementary to Middle School. It requires a space to represent three to seven distant “wetland areas” used during the “whooper life cycle”. A “whooper life cycle kit” is required to represent at least three wetland areas, food items, feeding, roosting and breeding behaviors, and causes of mortality. Kit content: Wetland areas: long plastic blue strips suggesting wetlands, signs to indicate breeding and wintering grounds (Canada and Texas), and at least one of the five main stopovers in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Food: Plastic items to be dispersed in each area (blue crabs-Texas, candy corn-NE, and insects-Canada). Feeding and resting: empty plastic bags to be filled with food items and resting signs. Breeding: nesting kit (nest material, plastic eggs, chick). Mortality: stickers as predators, power lines, hunters. Students represent whooping cranes in Texas (start point), teacher indicates each season time (start and end), a volunteer measures at the breeding ground the energetic budget accumulated  during winter and spring migration (checks food items collected and roosting flags) and decides breed success. Chick survivorship will be based on food items collected in breeding grounds. Results/Conclusions . After finishing the fall migration and arriving to Texas, students understand the risks of long distant migratory birds and environmental factors that affect mortality and survivorship.  Students learn about crane’s reproductive biology, territorial behavior, diet, visualize links between winter and summer grounds, the importance of wetland stopovers and identify direct and indirect effects of environmental factors that may impact their survivorship and breeding success. The complexity of this game could be increased changing condition in any of the grounds and stopovers (i.e. reduced food availability), and playing a second cycle, in order to show how decisions in one place of the continent could affect the individual and species.