Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Minnesota
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Minnesota Project

Delineating sandhill crane populations in Minnesota

May 2014 - June 2017

Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Division of Migratory Birds
  • State of Minnesota as recommended by the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Natural Resources

Portions of both he Mid-Continent and Eastern Populations of sandhill cranes breed in Minnesota, but how birds from each population are distributed is not well documented. This project is designed to better understand sandhill crane distribution in Minnesota.

Research Publications Publication Date
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg, J. Lawrence, T. Cooper, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. Range overlap between Mid-Continent and Eastern sandhill cranes revealed by GPS-tracking. Wildlife Society Bulletin 41:489-498. DOI:10.1002/wsb.799. | Download October 2017
Wolfson, D.W., J.R. Fieberg, and D.E. Andersen. 2020. Juvenile sandhill cranes exhibit wider ranging and more exploratory movements than adults during the breeding season. Ibis 162:556-562 DOI:10.1111/ibi.12786. October 2020
Presentations Presentation Date
Wolfson, D, D. E. Andersen, J. Lawrence, T. Cooper, D. Fronczak, and J. Fieberg. 2016. Minnesota sandhill crane population affiliation and migration ecology. Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society Annual Meeting, Fertile, MN. April 2016
Wolfson, D., D.E. Andersen, T. Cooper, J. Lawrence, and J. Fieberg. 2015. Spatial ecology of sandhill crane populations in Minnesota. Joint Minnesota/Wisconsin Chapters of The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting, Duluth, Minnesota. February 2015
Wolfson, D., D.E. Andersen, T.R. Cooper, J. Lawrence, and J. Fieberg. 2016. Spatial ecology of sandhill crane populations in Minnesota. 76th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. January 2016
Wolfson, D., D.E. Andersen, T.R. Cooper, J. Lawrence, and J. Fieberg. 2016. Spatial ecology of sandhill crane populations in Minnesota. Minnesota Chapter of the The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting, Mankato, Minnesota. February 2016
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg, J. Lawrence, T. Cooper, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. A comparison of movements between adults and juvenile sandhill cranes during spring and summer: evidence for prospecting? 14th North American Crane Working Group Workshop, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. January 2017
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg, J. Lawrence, T. Cooper, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. When worlds collide: a current assessment of two formerly distinct sandhill crane populations in Minnesota. 2017 Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Callaway, Minnesota. February 2017
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg, T. Cooper, J.S. Lawrence, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. Range overlap between Mid-Continent and Eastern sandhill cranes revealed by GPS-tracking. 77th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska. February 2017
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg., T. Cooper, J.S. Lawrence, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. Range overlap between Mid-Continent and Eastern sandhill cranes revealed by GPS-tracking. 77th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska. February 2017
Wolfson, D., J. Fieberg., T. Cooper, J.S. Lawrence, and D.E. Andersen. 2017. Range overlap between Mid-Continent and Eastern sandhill cranes revealed by GPS-tracking. Minnesota Waterfowl Symposium, Bloomington, Minnesota. February 2017
Theses and Dissertations Publication Date
Wolfson, D.W. 2018. Migratory ecology and movement patterns of Mid-Continent and Eastern sandhill cranes. M.S. thesis, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. June 2018