The Vanishing Whooper
The whooping crane, our largest, loudest and rarest bird, could never keep its mouth shut, so now it’s nearly extinct November 1 1947 C. FRED BODSWORTH
The Vanishing Whooper
C. FRED BODSWORTH
NEXT SUMMER, for the fourth consecutive year, some of the continent’s top wild-life experts will be flying back and forth across 250,000 square miles of northwestern Canada muskeg lands in a bird’s-nesting hunt that has already cost $75,000 without an egg yet to show for it.
The eggs they seek are HO priceless that the golden goose variety wouldn’t he worth a penny a dozen in comparison. And if t he eggs are ever found they will be left untouched where they lie. Barhed wire will he strung around them and armed guards will be posted with orders to let no one closer than half a mile.
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Two pairs of whooping cranes nested on private land in Jefferson and Chambers counties this year. It’s believed to be the first time the endangered birds have nested in Texas since the 1800s.
WHO: Two pairs of whooping cranes, one of the world’s most endangered birds.
WHAT: The animals are laying eggs in Texas on private land in Jefferson and Chambers counties, east of Houston for the first time since the late 1800s.
WHY IT’S SO GREAT: Every fall, the world’s last self-sustaining migratory flock of wild whooping cranes descends on the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. One of only two crane species native to North America, the whooping crane is the continent’s tallest and rarest bird: five feet high with crisp white feathers, a red-capped head, and a ratcheting, mournful call. The wild flock’s 506 birds spend the winter in the 115,000-acre refuge, fattening up on blue crabs, clams, and fish, before traveling back to northern Canada to breed.
WHO: Two pairs of whooping cranes, one of the world’s most endangered birds.
WHAT: The animals are laying eggs in Texas on private land in Jefferson and Chambers counties, east of Houston for the first time since the late 1800s.
WHY IT’S SO GREAT: Every fall, the world’s last self-sustaining migratory flock of wild whooping cranes descends on the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. One of only two crane species native to North America, the whooping crane is the continent’s tallest and rarest bird: five feet high with crisp white feathers, a red-capped head, and a ratcheting, mournful call. The wild flock’s 506 birds spend the winter in the 115,000-acre refuge, fattening up on blue crabs, clams, and fish, before traveling back to northern Canada to breed.