Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes, 2019

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with partners, annually assesses the population status and harvest of four populations of Sandhill cranes: the Mid-continent, Rocky Mountain, Lower Colorado River, and Eastern populations. The annual indices to abundance of the Mid-Continent Population (MCP) of sandhill cranes had been relatively stable from 1982 to the mid-2000s. Some of the annual indices have increased in recent years, and are more variable interannually compared to historic values. The spring 2019 estimate of abundance for sandhill cranes in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV), Nebraska, corrected for visibility bias, was 945,996 birds. This estimate is 6% below the record-high estimate from the previous year, and the second-highest recorded. The photo-corrected, 3-year average for 2017-19 was 839,992, which is well above the established population-objective range of 350,000-475,000 cranes. All Central Flyway States, except Nebraska, allowed crane hunting in portions of their States during 2018-19. An estimated 12,631 Central Flyway hunters participated in these seasons, which was 19% higher than the number that participated in the previous season and a record-high estimate. Hunters harvested 30,175 MCP cranes in the U.S. portion of the Central Flyway during the 2018-19 seasons, which was a record high and 94% higher than the longterm average. The estimated retrieved harvest of MCP cranes in hunt areas outside of the Central Flyway (Arizona, Pacific Flyway portion of New Mexico, Minnesota, Alaska, Canada, and Mexico combined) was 19,200 birds during 2018-19. The preliminary estimate for the North American MCP sport harvest, including crippling losses, was 54,678 birds, which was a 6% increase from the previous year’s estimate and a record for the third consecutive year. The long-term (1982-2017) trends for the MCP indicate that harvest has been increasing at a higher rate than population growth. The fall 2018 pre-migration survey for the Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) resulted in a count of 21,801 cranes, 11% higher than the count from 2017. The 3-year average was 21,219 sandhill cranes, which is slightly above the established population objective of 17,000-21,000 for the RMP. Hunting seasons during 2018-19 in portions of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming resulted in a harvest of 1,524 RMP cranes, a 28% increase from the previous year’s harvest. The Lower Colorado River Valley Population (LCRVP) survey results indicate a 22% increase from 2,396 birds in 2018 to 2,922 birds in 2019. The 3-year average is 2,678 LCRVP cranes, which is slightly above the population objective of 2,500 birds. The Eastern Population (EP) sandhill crane fall survey index for 2018 (97,751) was a 37% increase from the previous year, and still well above the objective of 30,000 cranes for this population. A total of 615 cranes were harvested in Kentucky and Tennessee during the 2018-19 seasons.