04 February 2007

One Lonely Survivor

Whooping Crane (Grus americana)

According to this article, not all 18 of the whooping cranes were killed in the Florida Storms, as previously believed.

When project organizers went to collect the birds' carcasses, they found that one of them was missing. Strangely, it was this same bird that wandered away from the rest of the flock for a few days during the migration south. Perhaps it's individualism somehow saved it? Who knows, for now, project organizers (and I) are just glad that there is at least one survivor. No word yet on what exactly killed the remaining seventeen birds, though lightning and drowning have both been proposed.

Donate to Operation Migration.
Donate to the International Crane Foundation.

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