I Found A Bird that Nearly Went EXTINCT

The Whooping Crane is an incredible bird that almost went extinct. Thankfully, they have bounced back and can still be found in select areas of the United States. I went to one of these areas in hopes of finding these rare birds. This was filmed in late summer/early fall.
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Crane in cover image by USFWS (Public Domain, edited)
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[@Beryllahawk]

Honestly I think the story of the Whooping Crane's recovery is a perfect way to show folks that bird watching is in fact INCREDIBLY powerful for conservation, and just for conversations about and for the environment. One of the biggest challenges with saving the cranes, if I recall right, is that for decades no one had ANY idea where the birds were breeding and nesting - even finding out that they were migrating from Texas to Canada was a big revelation at that time, because no one had really seen them (or perhaps had seen but not paid attention). When I think about how astonishing it is where even the most common birds can be found making nests (let's face it, would YOU live in a parking garage, or in a wreath on someone's porch??) it becomes even more important for us to listen to the enthusiasts and the scientists who go around finding that kind of information. It takes dedication and love to patiently hunt through hundreds of square miles of habitat in all sorts of weather to go track down a specific bird. Birders are super-heroes!

[@woodsonjane]

Thank you for sharing whooping cranes sighting! Glad their population is growing!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@woodsonjane thanks for watching!

[@RoseGrace100]

They are beautiful birds. Sure love seeing the refuges.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

They really are a magnificent species

[@Florafauneando]

It's good that you saw it, it is a magnificent bird. When I was a child I had read in a magazine and seen documentaries about its critical condition, although I didn't know much because it is many thousands of kilometers from where I am. Then in recent years I learned that their populations increased. Interesting video.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thanks for watching!

[@ABirdersParadise]

I saw Whooping Cranes there at Necedah last year, which was great even though they were far out because I missed them (by a few hours) at Horicon Marsh. Necedah is really great, except the ticks were terrible last year. We walked Lupine Loop/Trail there and ended up with over 100 ticks on us. You could see them on the ends of the grass just waiting for you to walk by, and after checking ourselves, we still ended up finding some on us after we had traveled many miles (I think we were in Minnesota). But yeah, the bird part of Necedah is great! :D

[@NathanWebb-c5h]

That was fun to watch. I've never seen a whooping crane.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thanks for watching!

[@sandyjacobs7840]

I finally got to see this magnificent bird this summer near Calgary!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Congratulations!

[@sylviamaulding2237]

I saw Whooping Cranes in TX in Feb. 2012. 8 at Goose Island SP and 12 at Aransas NWR.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Arkansas was their last wintering stronghold when their numbers were low

[@toddleech1055]

another wonderful video. thanks guys

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@braydenpaulk5079]

I have seen whooping cranes at Necedah NWR and also Wheeler NWR in Alabama!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Very cool!

[@barbaracole709]

I only have seen them at the National Zoo in DC and the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, but I would love to see them in the wild. They are such big and majestic birds! Congrats on the great views of them.

[@markshen3280]

Ryan, interestingly enough, the Japanese Red-Crowned Cranes population, however, are non-migratory. And I did some searching on-line : Currently, there are two main populations of Red-Crowned Cranes : one is the non-migrating and lives in northern Japan 🇯🇵 on the island of HOKKAIDO. The other population breeds in Russia, north-eastern China 🇨🇳, and Mongolia 🇲🇳, migrating to eastern China 🇨🇳, and to North and South Korea , spending the winter there.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s very interesting!

[@jamescady723]

Great find!! I new they were in trouble, but had no idea the population was about 1k.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

They’ve really had an amazing rebound as a species

[@brighteyedbirding]

Is Ryan a Jaguars fan? A Packers fan? Something else? I guess we will never know 😉

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s the real mystery here

[@banetheoutdoorsman8484]

I hunt in Necedah Wildlife Refuge for deer. The reason why there was so much cut/blow down trees was because there was a huge windstorm in late July of 2022 and blew down a TON of trees, especially near the entrance and visitor center. They just started cutting/logging off the blowdown this past summer. Sweet video anyway!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thanks for the insight! I was very curious about it

[@1awesome180]

Why do you like to murder animals?

[@pataudalain7675]

I saw Whooping Cranes in TX in Apr. 2012. 10 at Aransas NWR with 1 not too far away.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s awesome!

[@markshen3280]

Hi, Ryan. Good morning to you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. Please may I know whether the Whooping Crane (endangered crane species and native to North America), is the same as the Red-Crowned Crane found in Northern Japan 🇯🇵 and east Asia ? Looking forward to hearing from you……🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@markshen3280 hey! Although similar-looking they are different species!

[@markshen3280]

Hi, again from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. I had been thinking 🤔, whether or not the Japanese Red-crowned Cranes and the Whooping Cranes could be sub-species of each other… 🤔Kindly please 🙏 let me know…. 🧐

[@BadgerlandBirding]

I don’t believe they are related anymore than being in the same broad “family” of cranes although they do look very similar

[@diannajepson8708]

How exciting! I have not seen these before. I think one of my cousins lives near a wildlife sanctuary of some kind in Wisconsin. I wonder if it's the same one.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

If it’s the sane one you’ll have to come visit!

[@diannajepson8708]

@@BadgerlandBirding it's not. 😔 But she only lives about an hour and a half from there, so maybe next time I am out that way.

[@marjake3147]

I have a puzzle. A few weeks ago, I had a pair if birds ( male and female so I assume a nesting pair?) show up at my bird feeders and I am not able to find them in any of my bird identification books. They were about the size of a goldfinch or sparrow, and the male was completely black with a yellow tip on his tail and another on his chest. The female was marked the same except she was a charcoal grey not black but had the same bright yellow markings. I couldn't see their beak they moved to fast to be able to see them clearly. I live on the border of MN/WI just east of the Twin Cities. Does anyone have any idea of what these birds could be? I haven't seen them since so I assume they were migrating-

[@HuckleberryHim]

Could they be American redstarts?