Whooping Crane! 01 by CavalierLady
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Description
The Whooping Crane was so endangered, that back in the 1940's, there were only 15 surviving birds left in the world.
Only the diligent efforts of scientists have brought this magnificent bird back from the brink of extinction.
The Whooping Crane lays two eggs and the strongest chick kills the weaker chick. So scientists removed the second egg to try to raise the chick.
They tried placing the eggs with the nests of similar sandhill cranes, but when this was not successful, they had to come up with new methods.
Whooping Cranes imprint on the first thing they see, so scientists had to dress up like cranes and play tapes with crane sounds so as not to have any
"human" contact with the bird. They then helped them migrate north to their summer grounds by leading them there with light ultracraft.
There are now 237 birds in south Texas, up from 220 last year, and there are 499 Whooping Cranes now worldwide, not counting
17 Whooping Cranes that perished in tornados earlier this year in Florida. The birds shown here are two adults,
one being the largest and oldest Whooping Crane, and one juvenile bird, with the light brown coloring.
They are the largest bird in North America, standing 5 feet tall with a magnificent wingspan of over 7 1/2 feet.
They are the only crane species that is found solely in North America.
These birds here are in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the gulf Coast in South Texas.
I'll have more of these to show in future posts. Thanks very much for looking..... Maria

Comments (28)
Wow! Hate to see these beautiful birds gone forever. Excellent capture and information. Aloha
Amazing photo and information. I remember when they were nearly extinct. Still very fragile number of birds to work with.
The photo appears as good as the info. Our blue crane is another case in point.
Wonderful photo.
Beautiful shot :)
A beautiful and interesting capture. Thanks for sharing!!
Beautiful capture and view!!!
Great details and colours. So lucky with this pic. hugs
Excellent photo and ery interesting information!
Really a very amazing piece...bravissima my dear!!!V:DDD.Hugsxx
Splendd photo of great detail and beautiful natural lighting....!!!!
very nice shot, Aransas is where i saw them years ago.
nice shot
Beautiful Photography. Excellent!! Congratulations!!
Bravo for both photo and info! Excellently done! Kudos!!!!
WOnderful capture & info! Bravo!
Wow what an awesome find and even more awesome capture!!!!! We have sandhills here by the truckloads but I have never seen a real live whooping crane!
Marvelous photo and info.
Oh yes, so beautiful picture on this birds and excellent lighting :)
This is a great capture. Bravo!!
They are beautiful birds. They are diferrent from alot of birds who don't mind taking care of more than one baby at a time though. It doesn't seem like a very smart move survival wise even without the problems Mankind has given them.
A great image of these beautiful gracefull Cranes!!
We were just down there last week and couldn't get near the pix you did. Just couldn't get close enough. Excellent shots. Bunny
Beautiful shot and great information. It is nice to think that the species is making a comeback as they are too pretty to lose. They are bigger than I thought as we don't have any cranes down here.
I have to agree beautiful shot and great information to boot! Well done!
some one asked me about areas for birds and I pointed them toward Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. they are so beautiful as your capture
wow these is rare. I do not think I ever saw one before. real good shots
Bravo for both photo. Excellent information.