Whooping crane migration habitat selection data and distance to wind-energy infrastructure, 2010-2016

• Main Authors: Pearse, Aaron T, Brandt, David A, Metzger, Kristine L, Bidwell, Mark T, Harrell, Wade
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Geological Survey 2020
• Subjects: Ecology, Wildlife Biology; Canada; Wood Buffalo; Wood Buffalo National Park
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5066/p9svv311; https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5f203b6f82cef313ed93c184

These data were developed to support an effort to understand how whooping cranes select stopover habitat in the presence of wind-energy infrastructure. Location and associated data came from whooping cranes from the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population, 2010-2016. We marked a sample of 57 whooping cranes with leg-mounted transmitters that acquired locations via the global positioning system (GPS) network and transmitted those data through the Argos satellite system. Cranes were captured either at their natal areas in and adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada or at their winter terminus along the Texas Gulf Coast. Data herein include 9,347 ground locations used by whooping cranes during migration coupled with 19 potentially available locations for each used location (see processing steps for more information). Predictor variables hypothesized to explain variation in space use were included for all locations (used and available).