Fronczak, David, L.2017-01-202017-01-202014-11https://hdl.handle.net/11299/183576At the turn of the 20th century, the Eastern Population (EP) of greater sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis tabida; hereafter, cranes) was nearly extirpated from its historical breeding range due to habitat alteration and uncontrolled hunting (Walkinshaw and Wing 1955, Lumsden 1971, Hunt et al. 1976). The EP of sandhill cranes has increased in size and its breeding range has expanded (Tacha et al. 1994, Amundson and Johnson 2011), which has been attributed to actions such as habitat conservation by state and federal agencies and non-government organizations, protection from uncontrolled hunting following passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1916, and prohibition of hunting in 1918. However, an increase in population size has also been accompanied by management issues related to crop depredation, an interest in allowing sport harvest, and creating opportunity for non-consumptive wildlife viewing (Van Horn et al. 2010). Similar to other sandhill crane populations, basic biological and annual life cycle information is needed to better manage EP cranes, especially information related to spatial distribution of the population, current migration patterns, potential overlap with neighboring migratory and non-migratory populations, and identification of important habitats during the annual life cycle (D. J. Case and Associates 2009).enReport