goodcopbearcop: Whooping Crane (Grus americana) The whooping…
Whooping Crane (Grus americana)
The whooping crane is currently trying to make a comeback. In the 1940s there were 21 birds left in a single flock. Thanks to recovery efforts and wetlands restorations, there are currently around 600 whooping cranes today with over 400 individuals in the wild, though their futures remains uncertain.
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, FL
I remember as a kid when I first got into birds how sad it made me to read about the horrifically low numbers of whooping cranes. I was grief-stricken by the apparently certain knowledge that they were doomed, that their extinction was something I was powerless to avert.
It’s only now looking back that I realize how my own sense of personal loss was wrapped up in my response. How the birds I encountered while tramping around the chaparral functioned as a surrogate family at a time when my own family was coming apart.
I’m glad the cranes are doing better. I hope they make it.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1UDmTXo.
Tags: the sixth extinction.
