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Crane Whoo in g p Grus americana (Endangered Colorado, Federally) A large white bird with a red patch of skin from the base of the bill to the forehead, black primary wing features, a very long neck and long black legs, the whooping crane has managed to fight off the threat of extinction for the last half century. ` Whooping cranes historically nested over a wide area from Lake Michigan northward to the Arctic coast and wintered along the coast of Texas and Louisiana. They require a con- siderable area of shallow water or marsh for nest- ing with an abundance of aquatic animals for food, and they're extremely secretive and will , not tolerate human activity in the nesting Ems ground. Populations decreased dramatically through- out the 1800s and into the early 1900s, mainly •., ' , because of the loss of nesting and wintering habitat. Some were also killed for their feathers. By the early 1940s, reports indicated that the population had dropped to less than 20 birds, and extinction appeared imminent; but a .. ,, stringent management program may have saved ' the species. The program called for protection of the birds' nesting area at Wood Buffalo E + National Park in Canada and their winter- ing area at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge r y in Texas. Two other management programs have also experienced some success. One called for rais- ing some birds in captivity, and another was aimed at establishing a wild population in Idaho. In Colorado, whooping cranes occur only as 4 migrants. Birds generally migrate from Idaho a ? across the western portion of the state, and they've even been known to make migration stopovers of a month or more on the east side of the Continental Divide. In flight, the whooping crane's black wingtips are visible, its neck is extended and its long legs r extend beyond the tail. The whooping crane's AL wingspan is 7112 feet. Left: Whooping crane at N . , Patuxent Research Center, Laurel, Maryland. IANL I 11% '' L