| Thousands of wintering cranes create a wildlife spectacle |
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In fact, last year the large wetlands and vast agricultural areas located about 85 miles southeast of Tucson attracted a record 36,000-plus wintering sandhill cranes. And by all indications, the number of visiting sandhills is increasing each year.
Sandhill cranes are some of the largest migratory birds found in North America and can have wingspans of up to 6½ feet and can stand up to 47 inches tall. Wintering cranes can journey here from as far away as Siberia, although most migrate each winter to this southern Arizona valley from Canada and the Rocky Mountain region.
“This large flat valley, which includes the Willcox Playa, attracts one of the largest wintering concentrations of sandhill cranes in the Southwest,” said Mike Rabe, the migratory bird biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
The only area with more wintering cranes is the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge in West Texas, which has recorded up to a quarter-million visiting sandhills in the 1980s. Even the famed Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico along the Rio Grande Valley typically gets less than 7,000 wintering sandhills.
The December holidays provide a prime opportunity to visit southern Arizona to view these magnificent holdovers from the Pleistocene epoch. “Seeing thousands of these long-legged birds taking to the air simultaneously is a thrilling spectacle that can leave you awestruck,” Rabe said.
The two best places to view cranes are the Willcox Playa Wildlife Area and the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area operated by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, especially at first and last light.
Each morning, the roosting cranes take to flight, which itself can be a spectacle, and then soar aloft to visit area grain fields. During the late afternoon, the cranes come soaring back – seemingly from all points of the compass – to roost in these large maintained wetlands in the state wildlife areas.
“During the day, vast numbers of sandhills can be found feeding in the extensive grain fields of the Sulphur Springs Valley, especially in the Elfrida area," Rabe advises.
The premier viewing location is probably the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area between Bisbee and Elfrida. From Interstate 10, take Highway 191 south. The main entrance on Coffman Road is accessible either from Central Highway via Bagby Road, or directly from Davis Road one mile west of Central Highway. There are viewing platforms, bathrooms and a large parking area at this state wildlife area.
The Willcox Playa Wildlife Area is located seven miles south of Willcox. Take State Route 186 south to the Kansas Settlement Road, and then travel another five miles to the parking lot of the wildlife area. There is about a half-mile hike into Crane Lake.
The wintering sandhill cranes are also the centerpiece for an annual nature festival, Wings Over Willcox (Jan. 14-18, 2009), which is scheduled every year for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.
If you would like more information on wintering sandhill cranes, be sure to get the January-February edition of the “Arizona Wildlife Views” magazine, which is featuring an article about three of the best viewing areas for these magnificent birds that winter here each year. In fact, if you give a gift subscription of the award-winning wildlife magazine as a present this holiday season, you will get a free $3 wildlife calendar (while supplies last). To order, just visit the Game and Fish Department’s Web site at www.azgfd.gov/magazine
Michigan man assessed $14,995 for killing trophy elk near homes
Michael J. Malik, a Michigan resident, appeared before the Arizona Game and Fish Commission at its December meeting in Casa Grande for shooting a trophy-quality, 7x7 bull elk too close to residential property without landowner permission.
The commission's action to revoke Malik's license for five years has far-reaching implications. Arizona is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact with 32 other states, including all western states and Malik's home state of Michigan. Until his license privileges are restored in Arizona, he will not be able to legally hunt in any of those 32 states.
Malik paid $135,000 at an auction for Arizona's 2006-07 "special" elk tag at a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation annual convention. Special tag holders have the added privilege of pursuing their designated big game for one full year.
In the early hours of July 26, 2007, Malik, assisted by four companions, including Arizona elk guide John McClendon, shot, wounded and eventually killed the bull in a privately owned meadow in the Morgan Flat area east of Pinetop. While on patrol, the Arizona Game and Fish Department's wildlife manager in Unit 3B, Shawn Wagner, heard the initial shot and responded to investigate. He found the Malik hunting party and wounded bull in close proximity to several occupied houses where the property owners were upset with Malik hunting and shooting near their homes.
Wagner determined the homeowners had not been approached nor had they granted permission for Malik to hunt on their property. Wagner seized the bull and cited Malik for shooting violations. Shooting a firearm within a quarter-mile of an occupied building while taking wildlife without permission from the owner is a Class 2 Misdemeanor.
After several pre-trial conferences and continuances, Malik was found guilty in the Pinetop Justice Court on Aug. 29, 2008, of discharging a firearm within the quarter-mile limit of occupied residences while taking elk. The criminal conviction authorized the commission to take civil action against Malik.
"This incident is more a private property and public safety violation than it is a wildlife crime. The court and commission decisions are a strong reminder to all hunters about the importance of hunter awareness and safety and respecting the rights of private property owners and rural residents," says Jim Hinkle, law enforcement program manager at the department?s Pinetop office.
The department donated the edible portions of the elk carcass to Shepherd's Kitchen, a charitable organization in Snowflake. The antlers and cape remain in custody of the department pending the outcome of an appeal to the Pinetop Justice Court decision by Malik.
Two more California condor chicks flying free at Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon—a vast region of gorges and craggy spires so immense that it far exceeds the boundaries of any human definition of a park—is not just a spectacular landscape, but an ecosystem filled with prime wildlife habitat. As such, it is an important geographic focal point for the recovery of the endangered California condor. This year, two wild chicks hatched and fledged in Grand Canyon National Park, bringing the Arizona population close to 70 and the word’s total population (captive and free-flying) to well over 320.
While 70 and 320 may seem like dishearteningly small numbers, as recently as 1982 the world population was down to just 22 birds, and by 1987 the entire world’s remaining California condors were in captivity. Today, about half of the world’s condors are free-flying, and since recovery efforts began, nine chicks, including 2008’s two Grand Canyon chicks, have been hatched and fledged in the wild in Arizona.
California condors are North America’s largest flying land birds, with a wing span of over nine feet. They are primarily soarers, sometimes going for miles without a single flap of their wings. As a result, they prefer to live in areas with mountains, gorges, and hillsides which create updrafts and provide favorable soaring conditions. Condors also require caves, ledges or large tree cavities for nesting. The Grand Canyon area would seem to be perfect condor habitat, and evidence indicates that the birds did nest in the canyon for thousands of years. However, as climates changed after the last ice age and, more recently, as human impacts increased, the condor’s range shifted and numbers dwindled. The last wild condor in Arizona was sighted just south of the Grand Canyon in 1924.
It was not until reintroduction in northern Arizona began in 1996 that condors were once again seen flying over the Grand Canyon, and in 2003, Arizona’s first “wild-hatched” chick in over 100 years hatched in Grand Canyon National Park. The parents of that historic chick, condors 127F and 123M, were one of only two condor pairs to successfully hatch and fledge a chick in Arizona this year. Their chick, 472, was seen taking short flights at the canyon on Oct. 16.
The second chick, 476, belongs to first-time parents 133F and 187M. Its mother, condor 133F, has her own place in condor history. She is the last remaining bird from the initial Arizona condor release in 1996. Her chick was seen taking its first short flights in September.
Though it is further from the brink of extinction than it was a quarter century ago, the California condor’s long-term survival is far from assured. The birds are normally long-lived and don’t reach maturity until they are about six years of age. As a result, they are not prolific reproducers, usually only tending one egg every other year. Yet, they are regularly faced with threats such as lead poisoning from spent ammunition, predation, and accidental and intentional shooting.
The recovery plan for the California condor calls for the maintenance of three distinct condor populations—two in the wild and one in captivity—each having at least 150 members and including at least 15 breeding pairs of birds. There is a long way to go to reach that goal, but recovery efforts by committed organizations continue. The Peregrine Fund, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are only a few of the many organizations that have banded together to work on condor recovery.
Each year, more and more people from around the world come to Grand Canyon National Park hoping, while they are here, to observe the majestic flight of the California condor. Here, rangers, wildlife biologists and volunteers have an opportunity to not only learn about condors, but to share what they are learning about the birds’ unique qualities, their needs, and what each of us can do to help protect them. Here, the spectacular landscape has become more than just ecosystem and habitat; it has become home to one of the world’s rarest birds, classroom to those who wish to learn about them, and a place where we can all learn to hope when two more California condor chicks hatch and fledge in the wild.
To learn more about California condors, the ongoing recovery effort, and what you can do, please visit the Arizona Game and Fish Department on line at www.azgfd.gov/condor or the Peregrine Fund at www.peregrinefund.org/conserve_category.asp?category=California%20Condor%20Restoration. To learn more about California condors in Grand Canyon National Park, please visit the park’s web site at www.nps.gov/grca/naturescience/california-condors.htm.
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