Ecology, population dynamics, and management of the midcontinent sandhill crane population

Sandhill cranes are a long-lived bird found in many wetland-rich landscapes across North America. The midcontinent population of sandhill cranes is the largest population in North America, comprising approximately 650,000 individuals. They breed from western Quebec in the east, across the Canadian Arctic and Alaska to northeastern Russia in the west in a variety of ecoregions from Arctic tundra to temperate grasslands. This population winters from southern Oklahoma to northern Mexico, using playa and coastal wetlands. Long-term changes in the Platte River ecosystem pose a potential threat to this population as does declining high-energy food, prompting long-term investigations to better understand current problems facing this population [...]