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Citation:
Caven, A. J., and J. D. Wiese. 2025. Sandhill crane lead poisonings linked to a wetland restoration. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop 16:226-230.
Abstract:
Toward the end of the 2018 spring sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) migration on the Platte River in Nebraska, we detected 7 dead cranes near a recently restored wetland within 200 m of the river’s main channel. Topographic recontouring of the soils had occurred in January of 2018 and the area was not yet revegetated. The area had formerly hosted an excavated pond where hunting occurred for many years prior to the 1991 ban on lead ammunition for waterfowl harvest. Two of the cranes with no physical signs of trauma were submitted for necropsy. The cause of death in both cases as lead (Pb) poisoning; both cranes had liver Pb concentrations of >71.8 ppm dry weight. The restoration effort likely exposed remnant Pb shot that the birds consumed. When conducting restoration efforts in wetlands potentially contaminated with high soil densities of Pb shot, it may be beneficial to minimize the potential for seasonal overlap between exposed, contaminated substrates and the presence of priority species at the restoration site. We suggest basic mitigation approaches that could have been followed for this case.
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