Cranes

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is the rarest crane and the tallest American bird. This crane stands 5 ft (1.5 m) tall and has a wingspan of 7 ft (2.1 m). Adolescent birds have a golden-yellow neck, back, and beak, with golden edges to the black-tipped wings. By adulthood, only the wing tips are black; the rest of the bird is white except for the crown of the head and cheeks, and part of the long, pointed beak, all of which are red.

The population of the whooping crane was down to only 16 in 1941. The population decline of this species was mostly caused by hunting and habitat loss. In 1937, the wintering area of the whooping crane on the Gulf coast of Texas was protected as Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. In the meantime, some of the few remaining whooping cranes had been taken into captivity. Each egg that was laid was carefully incubated, but few of the young survived. Then, a nesting area was discovered inside Wood Buffalo National Park in northwestern Canada. Whoopers generally lay two olive-colored eggs, but only one of them hatches. Canadian wildlife biologists began removing one egg from wild nests. Most of the eggs were hatched in an incubator, while others were placed into the nests of wild sandhill cranes, which served as foster parents. Captive-reared birds have been returned to the wild. This, coupled with careful protection of the wild birds, has allowed the numbers of whooping cranes to gradually increase. By 1995, several hundred whooping cranes existed. However, the species remains perilously endangered.