Whooping Crane

About the Whooping Crane

The tallest bird in North America and one of its greatest conservation stories - the entire wild flock fell to about 15 birds in the 1940s before slowly rebuilding to over 500 today. Nearly the whole self-sustaining population winters in and around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the central Texas coast, feeding heavily on blue crabs in the salt marsh. Whooping Cranes mate for life and return to the same wintering territories year after year, families staying together through the first winter. Texas is the only place in the world to reliably see wild, self-sustaining Whooping Cranes, making the Aransas-Rockport area a pilgrimage for birders every winter.