Whooping Cranes back in La.
 

http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/po...115521674.html

Thought this was pretty cool.

I've seen em several times in the Aransas NWR while fishing around there mainly in Mesquite Bay in the spring. They are rather tall which surprised me the first time I saw them.

I talked with the head ldwf wildlife biologist about this at my great aunts funeral a couple months ago. Its pretty cool how they are doing it. The birds are being raised in captivity without ever seeing a human. When it is necessary for there to be contact with humans the workers put on costumes like gillie suits. It is also gonna be a great way to get federal money for coastal restoration to improve the habitat for them

there are many fields on HWY 14 and Hwy 27 in Cameron parish that have been holding them steady for 8 or 9 years now!

Heading to big lake this week we saw a field on 397 with about 200 in it. I have seen some in Jeff Davis parish south of Welsh last year! I wish we could hunt them

I have killed some sandhill cranes in Mexico. They are huge!

My bad.....It was Sand Hill Cranes we saw!! not Whooping Cranes :D

W i think you're talking about sandhill cranes not whooping cranes, and i saw a field yesterday with about 100 or so. I also wish you could hunt them down here, cause i bet that's fun to shoot.

Yea thats what I meant.......LOL.........I wish we could blast a few of those!! Eric Mexicans that crawfish for him said thats the best eaten

I would love to take a trip and go lay a few down. Do i hear a salty cajun sandhill crane hunt next year?

Shot them in Mexico. Some guys wanted to mount em but they wouldn't let us bring em back to the states. They cleaned em up and grilled the breast filets for us. It is truly a "ribeye in the sky" That morning my dad, myself, and 2 buddies shot 93 pintails in one hunt. Place is unbelievable. Too bad Im too scared to go back.

That's awesome look at the size of them things.

Dats some big ol birds right there.

thats sandhill cranes u see. they are grey with red facial coloring. whooping cranes are white.

Which one taste better????

w, in case you forget,those would be sand hill cranes.:work:

whooping crane, taste like bald eagle

What's the GC stand for in your name?

I saw a bald eagle while duck hunting a flooded timber hole right by Angola prison a few weeks ago. I haven't seen one in years. He was huge. Landed in a tree right by us.

Why wont they let us hunt sandhill cranes?

We heard a bunch at the blind yesterday and they sounded real close, but we never could see them. How can a bird that big be so elusive?

They sound crazy. We tried to get them every year in Mexico. The owner found where they were roosting and we caught them one afternoon flying back to their roost. Very elusive. That was the first time anyone had killed a sandhill crane on this guy's place. And he been in business like 30 years.

Louisiana doesn't have a big enough population. The population at Holmwood is right at 1000 birds. Its the largest popualation in the state. I know Cheneyville has another good size population and there are a few other little populations in the NE part of the state. Our birds are a different subspecies from the ones that are hunted in TX, they come from different breeding areas. TX and the west have tens of thousands of birds, we don't have enough to sustain a huntable population. I know some subspecies are endangered or at least threatened. Our subspecies may be on the list, have to look that up.

On eagles - Morgan City had an Eagle Expo this weekend. That area has something like 70 nesting pairs of eagles. There is a pair on Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge I see quite often, but haven't found the nest yet

we have a nesting pair on our lease in the basin. Lost a wounded duck to one on one of our last hunts.

Have what I would assume to be a "nesting pair" of bald eagles on the river...HUGE birds.

Where at ? I haven't seen no bald eagle!! but i would like to!!:confused:

My wife and I were traveling to New Orleans in October and saw a pair of them in the Cypress trees on I-10 right before the I-310 split. You could also see their nest from the hwy. in one of the taller trees.

flew over my blind in east LA...
 

smoked em

Nice kill ;)

when you cook dat.. You pot roast it or BBQ wrapped in bacon?

Had one of them dive in front of my dock and catch a fish.
They're constantly flying above my place.
They used to next down by your house.

Here is a picture on one that I took while up in Canada.

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I see eagles all the time along the Houma Navigation Canal In Houma.

I have seen several bald eagles at Toledo in different areas of the lake. Actullly saw 5 together in January this year

There are several fields right south of the Iowa area that have a bunch of sandhill cranes in them. They have a distinct sound that they make too... can hear it from a mile!

There is a bunch on ward line road

Was a bunch of sandhill on the corner of hw 27 and helms rd. Not sure if left yet or not.

i hunt rice fields south of Iowa ..... what they sound like?

cranes
 

When they feed, it is almost like a loud chirp. We have some land right south of Iowa and they are in there now. My parents house backs up to the field and when i was visiting them this weekend, i could hear them in the field before I even saw them. They also have a pretty high whistle they do as well. This past weekend, i bet there were 40-50 in the field.

Like nothing you would forget! Like a gargling cricket chirp with a little of that noise that The Predator makes:rotfl: They are cool birds, HUGE.

i use to always see bald egales when i was single.oh my mistake but we do have nesting pair at camp on point 3 toledo bend

Whooping Crane
 

Dow Chemical just announced that they are donating $150,000 to the species survival center to help with the whooping crane project. Pretty cool.

Initiative to boost whooping crane population announced by Audubon Nature Institute

Link - http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2...hooping_c.html

They had a similar article on the front page of the Daily Advertiser today.

I know there are people that may say its just a bird, but this will actually bring some tourism in to see these things. Very very rare animal, and people pay big bucks to say they have seen one. Read the other day where some guy in Pennsylvania or some state up there was charging $8 a head to come in his house and look at a Oriental Turtle Dove that has been on his feeder:eek:. Supposed to be a wild bird, but..:redface:
He is making a killing of people wanting to check off a little bird off their 'life list' of birds seen. Save the whoopers!!!!!!!!!!!! Save the oysters!!!!!!!!!!!They rapin the lake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:p