The Whooping Crane

Daniel E.

Whooping Crane

The Whooping Crane is North Americas tallest bird standing up to 5 feet and spreading its majestic wings up to 7 and a half feet wide. The Whooping Crane is native to Alberta and the Northwest Territories during the summer and lives for up to 24 years. Primary food sources of the Whooping Crane are snails, insect larvae, leeches, frogs, minnows, rodents and berries. The Whooping Crane may also scavenge dead ducks, muskrats, and marsh birds.

The DiveIn the 1800s there was a time when the Whooping Crane had a population of approximately 10,000 in western North America. Over the next 100 or so years the whooping crane population dropped to an all time low of 22 in 1942. Whooping Cranes most frequent cause of death was flying into power lanes during their migration. Other causes are over-hunting poaching and loss of habitat.

Endangered

In order to be considered an endangered species the total population must fall below 200. Although the Whooping crane is now considered to be a threatened species despite being endangered for most of the last hundred and some years. Luckily the species did not go extinct thanks to reclamation foundations such as the NFWF.

Take Off!The Whooping Crane is no longer classified as an endangered species, however wildlife foundation are still assisting the species. One of the more prominent foundation is the NFWF. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) made huge contributions to the Whooping Crane from breeding them, migrating them, teaching them to fly, and even teaching them to migrate. The exact number of cranes assisted by NFWF is unknown, however we do know that for every bird the supported cost them an estimated $100,000.

http://raysweb.net/specialplaces/pages/crane.htmlhttp://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/endangered-species-the-whooping-crane/15387/http://www.nfwf.org/whoweare/mediacenter/video/Pages/The-Flight-to-Survive-video.aspx#.VDRlwfldWVMhttp://raysweb.net/specialplaces/pages/canada-es.html

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