Whooping Cranes Are Nesting in Texas for the First Time in Over a Century [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

WHO: Two pairs of whooping cranes, one of the world’s most endangered birds.

WHAT: The animals are laying eggs in Texas—on private land in Jefferson and Chambers counties, east of Houston—for the first time since the late 1800s.

WHY IT’S SO GREAT: Every fall, the world’s last self-sustaining migratory flock of wild whooping cranes descends on the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. One of only two crane species native to North America, the whooping crane is the continent’s tallest and rarest bird: five feet high with crisp white feathers, a red-capped head, and a ratcheting, mournful call. The wild flock’s 506 birds spend the winter in the 115,000-acre refuge, fattening up on blue crabs, clams, and fish, before traveling back to northern Canada to breed.

Birders from across the globe travel to Port Aransas every winter, seeking a rare chance to see whoopers and other migratory species. There’s even a Whooping Crane Festival each February (though it was scuttled this year due to the pandemic). But until now, the birds were just passing through. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week, two pairs of whooping cranes are nesting in Texas for the first time in more than a hundred years.

Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/whooping-cranes-nesting-in-texas-for-first-time-in-over-a-century/


Whooping cranes along the Gulf Coast in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
Wildnerdpix/Getty