Whooping Cranes

Long-time New Mexicans probably remember when whooping cranes could be seen on the Bosque del Apache in the winter. In an effort to create a second flock as a backup against disasters that might befall the primary flock, whooper eggs laid by captive birds were placed in the nests of the flock of sandhill cranes who migrate here in the winter. At one point there were as many as six whooping cranes travelling with the sandhill crane flock. Long-term, the experiment failed, in effect because the whoopers did not breed with each other (they thought they were sandhill cranes). A brief description of the experiment and the other crane flocks is available at International Crane Foundation.
       Since 2000 a new effort has been under way to establish a second migratory flock of whooping cranes. This one involves raising little whoopers at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, and then teaching them a migration route to Chassahowitza National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Over the past several seasons the flock has grown to 42, and there are 21 additional chicks from this year's crop presently being taught to follow an ultralight so they can be led on the crucial first migration south to learn the route. You can follow the migration from the education site "Journey North". The photos are always very entertaining.
       Of course we do have books about cranes. A few good ones are Cranes : the noblest flyers : in natural history & cultural lore by Alice Lindsay Price; Steve Grooms' book about the sandhill cranes on the Platte River, The cry of the sandhill crane; and Peter Matthiessen's The birds of heaven : travels with cranes. (In general, our books about whooping cranes are not recent enough to reflect all this new activity.) Also we have the lovely feature film Fly Away Home (about leading a group of Canada goose chicks to North Carolina with a home-made plane), and the hit documentary Winged Migration.

Sandhill cranes at dusk over the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge