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.
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| Blue Crane |
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| 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 |
