Each year, sportsmen, bird watchers, and other wildlife enthusiasts can join the Wildlife Department in documenting federally endangered whooping cranes as they migrate through Oklahoma. Though sightings are tracked across the Central Flyway, it is important for sandhill crane hunters to be aware that whooping cranes could migrate through Oklahoma and be roosting or loafing in hunting areas at any time throughout the entire season.
The 2,500-mile journey from nesting grounds in Canada to wintering grounds in coastal Texas can take nearly two months, with the first migrating family groups of cranes reaching Oklahoma in mid- to late-October. The birds may touch down in wetlands or grain fields for a few days to rest and refuel on crustaceans, other small animals, or grain before continuing on to Texas.
The small flocks of whooping cranes that migrate through Oklahoma are part of the only remaining naturally occurring population, known as the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population. Surveys conducted during the winter of 2022 – 2023 estimate the population to be at least 536 birds.
