Whooping Crane

So this morning we went to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo Wisconsin.  And here is one of the 600 Whooping Cranes left in the world.

The International Crane Foundation has worked all over the world to increase Crane habitat.  It has been instrumental in saving the Whooping Crane - which had only 20 living specimens in the 1950s.  Whooping Cranes had only 1 flock that wintered in Texas and bred in an area in Northern Canada.  

The foundation started a breeding program and has now started a second flock that winters in Florida.  They tried originally to foster the whooping crane chicks with Sandhill cranes, but the Whooping Cranes would then try to mate with Sandhill cranes.  The most recent successes used puppets to feed the chicks and ultralight aircraft to teach them the migration path.  Now they use Whooping Cranes to foster chicks.  Although the flock is still not self sustaining (they lose more chicks than they save) there is some hope for the species.

It was a fabulous tour.