That little white dot in the middle is a whooper, sitting on a nest.
Seen from a Whooping Crane boat tour, one of my earliest birding trips. I was on the boat with other bird watchers.
This record gleaned from field journals I kept between 1968 and 2002. The first 6500+ records I posted on iNat had photo documentation, but now I am posting these records which do not have photos just to provide the data point for the species and location as best as I can for the historical record. I will also add a number to represent the approximate number of individuals of this species I recorded on the given day if more than one. My lifer Whooping Cranes.
Whooping Crane
Grus americana
Aransas NWR,
Aransas Co., Texas
20 February 2010
three shots posted
Whooping Crane
Grus americana
Aransas NWR,
Aransas Co., Texas
19 March 2008
two shots posted
Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR, Texas
19 Feb 2001
Whooping Crane
with four Sandhill Cranes
Bosque del Apache NWR,
New Mexico
4 Dec 1999
In the 80s and 90s there was an experiment conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hatch Whooping Crane eggs in Sandhill Crane nests. The plan was to have another flock of Whoopers which would breed and winter in different areas from the Aransas Flock. Problem was, the Whoopers that had been raised with Sandhills "thought" they were Sandhill Cranes and would not mate with other Whoopers, thus the experiment did not work out as planned. On occasion in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s you could see a few Whoopers at Bosque del Apache NWR in the winter with the wintering Sandhills. I think all those birds have now died off.
Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR, Texas
24 Feb 1998
Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR, Texas
3 Dec 1994
Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR, Texas
21 Feb 1991
Whooping Cranes
pair with a chick
Aransas NWR, Texas
24 Dec 1990
This pair has a chick which was born in Canada in the summer of 1990
Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR, Texas
18 March 1990
The Whooping Crane (Grus americana), the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound and call. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild.
