Date: 1/14/25 4:28 am From: Mark Stevenson <drbrdr99...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] SE AZ Crane Survey
From AZ Game and Fish
Each year before the Willcox event, AZGFD biologists perform a crane count.
This year’s count estimates 38,707 cranes, with the largest concentration
near Willcox Playa. The 23,522 cranes there include those roosting at
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative’s (AEPCO)’s Apache Station and Cochise
Lake, both in Willcox. Other locations surveyed include AZGFD’s
***Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area near McNeal with 12,209 cranes***, the
Gila River Corridor with 2,461 cranes, Crane Lake with 421 cranes and
Bonita with 94 cranes.
The cranes usually fly out as a group at dawn to feed, gleaning grain from
farmers' fields. Most of the cranes follow this feeding pattern, but some
linger in or near their roosts. Most return from feeding between 11 a.m.
and 4 p.m. The cranes typically begin to arrive mid-September to early
October. They begin to leave around mid-February, sometimes departing all
at once, but others may stay until the middle of March.
