Fourteen additional whooping cranes will be re-introduced to southwestern Louisiana in late November, according to an Associated Press article. These whooping cranes will join the survivors of two other groups of whooping cranes that had been reintroduced in February and December 2011.

According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the last record of a whooping crane in Louisiana dates back to 1950. That bird was moved to Texas to join others of its kind. Fittingly, the first birds re-released in Louisiana were located where the last one had lived. Only three of the first group of 10 whooping cranes survived their first year, and 12 of the second group of 16 have survived until now.

Read the AP story in the Houston Chronicle, here.
Read information from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, here.

Photo: Whooping cranes are habituated in Louisiana in 2011 before release. Courtesy Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.