Back From The Brink, Whooping Crane

Before European settlement, there were believed to be 15,000 - 20,000 whooping cranes. Habitat loss and hunting drastically reduced the population to around 1,300 birds by 1870, and only 15 adults in 1938.  “Conservationists worked with local, federal and international governments to protect the flock and encourage breeding.  Their efforts paid off slowly as the numbers reached 57 by 1970 and 214 by 2005….Creating a new migratory flock of whooping cranes required teaching young chicks how to migrate without the assistance of adult birds.  The International Whooping Crane Recovery Team decided to use an ultralight aircraft as a teaching tool to show the young whooping cranes how to fly from western Florida to Wisconsin.  The program has proven very successful and as of October 2009, there are 77 whooping cranes that follow a plane from Florida to Wisconsin and back each year.”  Today, Whooping Cranes continue to be endangered. The wild population is estimated at 383.