Louisiana
4 young, endangered whooping cranes are ready for the Louisiana wild. See their journey.
A rare bird species that once vanished from Louisiana is making a steady comeback as four more whooping cranes were released into the wild last month.
The release of the young birds, which were raised at a facility on the Westbank, is part of a years-long effort to bring the endangered species back to Louisiana.
The whooping crane is one of the rarest bird species in the world, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. They are large-bodied birds that can grow up to five feet tall with wingspans of up to eight feet, and can live up to 30 years in the wild.
Over the past seven years, the Audubon Nature Institute and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has released over 50 cranes into the White Lake Westland Conservation Area in Vermillion Parish. Many of the birds, including the four released last month, were hatched and raised at Audubon’s facility.
“We’re making great strides,” said Richard Dunn, the facility’s assistant curator, “and we’re starting to see the results of what we’re doing.”
Every year, staffers name the baby cranes according to a theme, Dunn added. This year’s theme was pasta shapes, so the four released cranes were named Gigli, Vermicelli, Fiori and Gemelli.
Lafayette-based professional photographer Kelly Morvant spotted a family of whooping cranes in a field in rural Acadia Parish — note the juvenile crane visible in the grass.
Whooping cranes, which are white with distinctive red heads and black facial markings, once roamed the state as both non-migratory and migratory species. But their numbers began to dwindle as humans converted their habitat into farmland and hunted the birds, whose feathers became popular clothing accessories.
By 1950, the last living whooping crane in Louisiana was transported to a wildlife refuge on the Texas coast.
But in 2011, the state started an effort to reintroduce the birds into the wild. That first year, ten young cranes entered the conservation area in Vermillion Parish.
Since 2017, when Audubon joined the effort, the environmental organization has released 55 cranes, 31 of which were hatched at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center. With the addition of the four new birds, there are now 77 whooping cranes across the state and over 700 nationwide, Dunn said.
Skylar McMillan with the Audubon Nature Institute boards a boat with the four juvenile Whooping Cranes after they were tagged Tuesday, Nov. 7, at White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. The birds were taken to a holding pen pending their release into the wild.
“The addition of these young cranes is another important step in restoring a once-thriving species to the Louisiana landscape,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Madison Sheahan said in a statement.
Staff from the Audubon Institute and the state wildlife department raised the baby birds at the Westbank facility. This year, most of the young cranes, called “colts,” were hatched from eggs that came from a migratory flock in Wisconsin, but one chick came from an egg laid by Louisiana cranes. Two unreleased birds were kept at the facility for future breeding.
The goal of the program is to create a self-sustaining population of non-migratory whooping cranes in the state, part of a national push to move the birds from endangered to threatened. In Louisiana, a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes would require about 120 birds with 30 reproducing pairs to survive in the wild for a decade.
“This is the point of what we do,” Dunn said, “see the birds increase in the wild.”
Louisiana
Centenary College of Louisiana kicked off its year-long bicentennial celebration Wednesday
On a bright and chilly winter day, Centenary College of Louisiana kicked off its bicentennial year with a birthday celebration including a proclamation from the City of Shreveport and music by Centenary choir.
It was a grand start to the bicentennial year. Centenary College of Louisiana president, Dr. Christopher L. Holoman said, “we are really excited to be looking back at 200 years, an amazing history. We are so proud of that, but we are even prouder of what we are going to be in the future.”
Centenary College of Louisiana is a national liberal arts college in the heart of Shreveport. This college is deemed the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River, founded in 1825.
Holoman said, “200 years is an amazing length of time…Centenary is older than time zones. Centenary is older than golden doodles.”
City of Shreveport mayor, Tom Arceneaux read the citywide proclamation and said, “I am thrilled to be here for more than one reason. One, I’m really glad that Centenary is 200 years old. And two I’m glad to be here 12 days after hip replacement surgery.”
Wednesday’s birthday party is just the start of year-long celebration of special events and gatherings. These events include:
- special exhibit at the College’s Meadows Museum of Art
- festive neighborhood party during the Krewe of Highland Mardi Gras parade
- alumni trip to Centenary’s original campus in Jackson, Louisiana
- campus art stroll showcasing the talents of the Centenary community
The bicentennial commemoration will conclude with a gala event, Spotlight Centenary, in December 2025.
To keep up with all the bicentennial year events visit centenary200.com.
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.
SHREVEPORT, LAFAYETTE, MONROE, ALEXANDRIA, LAKE CHARLES La. (KALB) – On January 8, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced that Brandon Brown would resign as as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.
As U.S. Attorney for the Western District of La., Brown acted as the chief law enforcement officer for 42 of 64 parishes in the state, overseeing every federal civil and criminal case in the district.
Brown’s last day in office is set for January 20.
Brown was nominated to the position on November 15, 2021 by President Joe Biden, was confirmed by the Senate on December 7 and sworn in on December 10.
U.S. Attorney Brown released the following statement about his tenure:
During his tenure, Brown became the U.S. Fifth Circuit’s representative on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Attorney General Advisory Committee (AGAC), which assists the AG in creating policy for each of the 94 districts.
According to the release, U.S. Attorney Brown prosecuted hundreds of firearms cases and set a high priority on those related to drugs, public corruption, child pornography, and human trafficking.
They said due to these efforts, both Monroe and Shreveport saw significant decline in violent crime rates.
Alexander Van Hook will reportedly assume the role of U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana until a successor can be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
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Louisiana
Two more candidates join Baton Rouge and Lafayette state Senate races on day 2 of qualifying
Two more candidates qualified on Wednesday to run for open seats in the Louisiana Senate.
One of the vacancies is to represent District 14 in Baton Rouge and the other is to represent District 23 in Lafayette.
Carolyn Hill signed up to run in Baton Rouge on the second of the three-day qualifying period, which closes Thursday afternoon. She is running as a Democrat.
Hill, 42, has a career in policy social work and currently works for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools. She also founded and owns Hill and Hills Associates, a political consulting firm that supports candidates running for office.
In 2011, she won a race to represent District 8 on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She lost a 2015 bid for reelection to BESE.
In Lafayette, Republican Jesse Regan formally qualified to run for state Senate.
Regan was elected to represent District 3 on the Broussard City Council in 2019. He won reelection in 2022.
Regan is a mortgage lender at Preferred Lending Solutions. He also co-founded DJD Development Group and co-owns Madison Banquet & Reception Centre in Broussard, according to an online biography.
The candidates who signed up Wednesday join four others who qualified Tuesday.
Democrats Quentin Anthony Anderson and state Rep. Larry Selders qualified in Baton Rouge, and Republican state Rep. Brach Myers and Kristopher Harrison, who is running unaffiliated, qualified in Lafayette.
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