whooping crane

[fishstuffer]

took some pics of some whooping cranes last weekend..

[fishstuffer]

The last remaining whooping crane population nests in Wood Buffalo National Park and winters at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. At one point the bird’s numbers reached a low of 16 in 1942 but the population has since increased to more than 200 birds.
52 chicks hatched in Canada in 2009 but only 22 fledged.

[grygon]

NICE!

I found a spot where you could walk right up on canadian geese and sandhill cranes by sneaking right up on them via a deep ditch, then poke your camera through the weeds... they were oblivious to my friend who was QUIETLY trying to shoo them in my direction... but I was dumb and stayed at the other side of the field so when my friend finally just walked out among them they took off instead of walking towards me (they were NOT budging an inch towards me, so he didn't know what else to do to get them to move)... next time I'll be using the ditch while he sits on the road to distract them lol., so my pics didn't come out half as nice as these.

[JBird]

Stunning photo's - and exquisite birds.  I was fortunate enough to visit the International Crane Foundation and get a private tour of their whooping crane breeding/rearing fascilities - I wasn't allowed to even make a noise and we had to be in full camo - no birds in that area are allowed to see or hear a human.  They had dozens and dozens of breeding pairs -  I guess the biggest problem is that none of the captive bred and then released birds are actually successfully mating in the wild -

Thanks for posting the pictures - love them

Jeff

[Matt Jones]

Great pics.  I've never been lucky to see one.

I thought there was also a small population in WI that wintered in FL?  I know they almost got wiped out one year but I thought there was still some there.

[fishstuffer]

i guess i should have said wild.. (The only remaining natural, self-sustaining flock of Whooping Cranes)

 In 1999, governmental, non-profit, and private organizations united to form the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) to establish a new, migratory flock of Whooping Cranes to the core part of their historical breeding range. This flock migrates between Wisconsin and coastal Florida. To re-establish a migration route that was completely lost, the chicks are conditioned to follow an ultralight aircraft at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin