Cranes of the World

 

Why did we travel to Baraboo? I wanted to visit the International Crane Foundation. This unique Whooping Crane scarecrow and its chick greet you when you arrive.

Blue Crane

Wattled Crane

All 15 cranes of the world are located here. Unfortunately, 11 out of the 15 are threatened or endangered. Loss of wetland habitat is a major problem.

The beautiful crowned cranes adorned with golden plumes are targets for illegal trade in Africa. The International Crane Foundation is actively working with countries that are trying to save their cranes from extirpation or extinction.

In North America, ICF has been breeding and reintroducing Whooping Cranes into the wild since the 1970's. In the 1940's, only 14 or 15 of these majestic birds existed in the world. For 15 years, they worked with Operation Migration in establishing a migratory population by training them to follow ultralight aircraft from Wisconsin to Florida. Today, there are about 600 in the wild. They are still endangered but progress is being made.

Here are a couple of videos of them foraging or calling in unison.

While driving around the harvested cornfields, we discovered hundreds of Sandhill Cranes some of which were playfully dancing.

While we were admiring these trumpeting cranes, a few more arrived. One of them was white and stood a foot taller than the others. Wow! It was our lucky day! We found a rare Whooping Crane.
By the leg bracelets, we could see that it was a reintroduced bird in the wild. Hopefully, in the near future, this won't be a rare sighting.

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts

Beautiful Baraboo

Baraboo? Unless you have been here, you probably have no idea where it is located. Any guess?

The trees are full of color. Birds have already headed south.

In the center of this small town, a local coffee shop fills up with neighbors spending time together. This little box is for exchanging books with one another.

A popular state park fills up with campers and day hikers. I suspect cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are popular in the winter.

While you are here, you can visit Aldo Leopold's shack and visit the foundation that his family started to continue the legacy that he started with his book, The Sand County Almanac. The property surrounding his shack once was an abandoned, desolate farm. He and his family restored the land by planting thousands of trees and wildflowers.

There is a lot of wisdom in this book that was published in 1948.

Have you figured out where Baraboo is yet?

Click on photos to enlarge.

Photos and content by Robin Roberts.