Shootings contributed to the historic decline of Whooping Cranes, and they continue to affect all remnants and reintroduced populations today. Here we examined the 27 confirmed shooting cases that have occurred since the Whooping Crane was listed as a Federally Endangered Species in 1967. In the past decade there has been a concerning increase in the number of shootings, especially in the reintroduced populations. In the period from 1967 to 1999 there were five documented shooting cases; between 2000 and 2016 there were 22 documented shooting cases. Since 2000, 77% of the confirmed shooting cases have taken place in the reintroduced populations; shootings account for 19% of known mortality in the Eastern Migratory Population and 24% in the Louisiana Nonmigratory Population. Most shooting cases are unrelated to a hunting season, although six of the nine cases in the Aransas Wood Buffalo Population have been related to hunting. In 63% of the cases a perpetrator was identified, and in 44% of the cases a perpetrator was punished for the crime. Cases have rarely been tried under the Endangered Species Act, but rather the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and state laws have been used. The severity of punishment for shooting a Whooping Crane has varied widely. To reduce the rate of Whooping Crane shootings, we recommend public awareness campaigns designed to raise pride in Whooping Cranes, in conjunction with advocacy to officials in the criminal justice system to increase penalties.

Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) foraging flight studies at 20+ colonies throughout the US range were reviewed to summarize foraging ranges and compared to 20, 25 and 30 km-wide regulatory buffers ("core foraging areas") created to provide sufficient foraging habitats for breeding storks. Mean (per colony) direct distances to foraging sites ranged from 2.7 to 18.1 km, and between 75-100% of all follow flights went to foraging sites within 20 km of their colony. Overall, reviewed follow flight data suggested that the 20-km buffer would be sufficient for all breeding colonies in the US. However, such a reduction is not supported at this time due to limited recent data for certain regions of the Wood Stork breeding range (e.g. central and southern Florida). Additional, preferably multi-year, foraging habitat use studies are needed to fill data gaps for these areas to better assess the validity of the CFA buffers. Received 22 August 2011, accepted 1 December 2011.

Rainfall, surface water levels, location within the state, and area and types of habitats (n = 29) surrounding wood stork Mycteria americana colonies in North and Central Florida were analyzed at 10-km, 20-km, and 30-km radii around each colony to examine their relationship with fledging rate and number of nests during 2003-2005. Seven variables within 10 km, 14 variables within 20 km, and 6 variables within 30 km of colonies were correlated with fledging rates. Fledging rate and number of nests were significantly associated with both wetland and nonwetland area and habitats. Among all the variables, fledging rate was most strongly associated with rainfall during the preceding 12-24 mo. Both larger colonies and colonies in North Florida had higher fledging rates. Although some variables had a positive association and other variables had a negative correlation with fledging rates, results were not consistent across all three radii, which suggests that the effects of hydrologic and habitat variables differs with increasing distance from a colony. The size of a wood stork colony was sensitive to a larger number of variables and varied by distances from the colony. Colonies were smaller in the northern part of Florida, and coastal colonies were larger than interior colonies. Because wood storks often use ephemeral foraging sites closer to a colony early in the season and those sites may not be available later in the season, wood storks may shift to alternate, more distant sites and habitats later in the season. A hypothesis is proposed whereby wood storks establish their colonies using proximate clues of prey availability based on the effects of past rainfall and certain preferred habitat types. These proximate cues to prey availability and foraging substrate surrounding a colony are detected by wood storks before the onset and during the initial nesting season. However, the long-term stability of a colony may ultimately be determined by yearly rainfall patterns and habitat variables at larger distances and by fledging rates that contribute to recruitment of nesting birds and an increase in number of nests.

The combined rate for 21 Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) colonies during 2003-2005 was 1.19 +/- 0.09 fledglings/nest (N = 4,855 nests). The mean fledging rate of 0.61 fledgling/nest for colonies during 2005 was significantly less than the rate of 1.47 fledglings/nest in 2003 and 1.43 fledglings/nest in 2004. A comparison of the annual fledging rates for a subset of 13 colonies monitored during all three years indicates the overall probability of fledging >1 nestling was significantly greater in both 2003 (69.7%) and 2004 (69.8%) than in 2005 (38.5%). Though the probability of fledging one stork was similar among years (range 9.7-12.0%), the probabilities of 0, 2, or >3 fledglings were significantly different in 2005 than in either 2003 and 2004. Colony size and longitude had no significant effect on mean colony productivity. However, latitude did have a significant positive effect on colony productivity. Thus, colonies farther north in Florida tended to exhibit greater productivity. The colonies in the northeastern and northwestern regions of the state generally had greater fledging rates than did colonies farther south in Florida, especially the southeast region. This study also identified objectives for management activities and future research. There is a need to develop an unbiased estimator of productivity that takes into consideration the lack of nesting during some years, which would allow managers to more accurately estimate stork productivity at the regional level. Because some colonies out perform others, an index-type system of colonies should be developed to designate colonies that perform above a modeled fledging rate, thus offering long-term insight into stork productivity. A re-examination of the productivity indices listed in the Wood Stork Recovery Plan is needed to ensure the current status of the U.S. breeding population.

In 1984, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the U.S. breeding population of Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) in their known range of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act, due to a population decline of 75 percent from the 1930s to the 1980s. In 1997, an updated Recovery Plan for the Wood Stork established two metrics to for determining the biological status: numbers of nesting pairs and regional productivity measured over time. Five-year averages of nesting pairs from annual aerial surveys show an increasing trend (1981-85, 1991-95, 2001-2005). Since listing in 1984, the average number of active colonies has almost doubled, however colony size has decreased. Current productivity estimates are similar to those recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. Monitoring continues to indicate that nesting numbers and productivity rates are variable within and among years and within and among colonies. Variability is likely related to environmental factors affecting the quality of local and regional nesting and foraging habitats. Loss of natural foraging habitat continues to be a major threat, while the effects of the increasing number of constructed wetlands and their use as foraging areas is unknown. Habitat Management Guidelines are being updated and will address: managing colony sites, controlling predation and human disturbance, and core foraging habitat issues. One of the most important initiatives is the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), which has identifies the restoration of healthy wading bird populations as an expected benefit. It is anticipated that CERP will be a large contributing factor toward the recovery of this species.

Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) breeding in the southeastern United States exhibit lengthy inter- and intra-regional movements in response to resource availability. One type of movement., post-breeding dispersal, has resulted in storks from this population temporarily moving into the Gulf Coast states of Alabama and eastern Mississippi. Concurrently, other Wood Storks, presumably of Mexican/Central American origin, are frequently observed in large numbers in the Mississippi River Valley and nearby western states during the late-summer months and the proximity of dispersing storks from the two regions might result in population mixing. In a preliminary examination of the origins of Wood Storks observed in Gulf Coast states and the likelihood of population mixing, we deployed ten satellite transmitters on storks in those areas in June-July of 2003 and monitored their movements. All storks captured in eastern Mississippi moved into southern Florida. Storks captured in western Mississippi went to eastern Mexico or western Guatemala. One stork from Louisiana went to Mexico and the other went to southern Florida, suggesting that population mixing may be occurring on their non-breeding season habitats.

Standardized aerial surveys were used to document the winter (December-March) distribution of North Atlantic right whales in their calving area off the coasts of Georgia and northeastern Florida (1991-1998). Survey data were collected within four survey zones in and adjacent to federally designated critical habitat. These data, including whale-sighting locations and sampling effort, were used to describe right whale distribution in relation to sea-surface temperature (SST) from satellite-derived images. Locations where whales were sighted (n = 609) had an overall mean SST of 14.3 degrees C +/- 2.1 degrees (range 8 degrees-22 degrees C). Data from two survey zones having sufficient data (including the "early warning system" (EWS) zone and the Florida nearshore) were pooled by season and stratified by month to investigate changes in monthly ambient SST and fine-scale distribution patterns of right whales in relation to SST within spatially explicit search areas. Using Monte Carlo techniques, SSTs and latitudes (means and standard deviations) of locations where whales were sighted were compared to a sampling distribution of each variable derived from daily-search areas. Overall, results support a nonrandom distribution of right whales in relation to SST: during resident months (January and February), whales exhibited low variability in observed SST and a suggested southward shift in whale distribution toward warmer SSTs in the EWS zone; while in the relatively warmer and southernmost survey zone (Florida nearshore), right whales were concentrated in the northern, cooler portion. Our results support that warm Gulf Stream waters, generally found south and east of delineated critical habitat, represent a thermal limit for right whales and play an important role in their distribution within the calving grounds. These results affirm the inclusion of SST in a multivariate predictive model for right whale distribution in their southeastern habitat.

Northern right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are vulnerable to injury and mortality caused by vessel strikes. In. an effort to prevent vessel strikes in the southeastern U.S. calving ground, a communication network was implemented to relay right whale sighting information, gathered by aerial survey teams, to mariners in the area. The system, which has evolved substantially since inception, now provides real-time sighting information to the marine community, thus assisting with avoidance of northern right whales. The current system utilizes 25 cloned alphanumeric pagers distributed to various state, federal, military, and industry representatives. Right whale sightings are reported and disseminated via the pagers, and ultimately via Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) to all ships 100 tons or larger in southeastern waters. This system has been successful in alerting mariners to the presence of right whales, however to address the critical management problems confronting this highly endangered species, further research into technological advancements that may assist in the detection of right whales should be encouraged.