Whoopers - 2

As noted before, the Rockport flock of whooping cranes spend the summer in Wood Buffalo National Park in Northwest Territories of Canada - 2500 miles between the two locations. They often have a stop-over in Nebraska. They nest and hatch their young (colts) in Canada. The colts are born with brown feathers so to blend into the grasslands. As they mature, they transition to the adult white color.

Only a few whooping cranes were in Rockport for our trip as we were very early in the migration season. Our guide knew their location and took us right to them in the early morning. They stake out sections of the marsh and become very territorial. 

In this first photo, you see a mating pair with their colt. When we were photographing this family, we thought this colt looked small but this photo proves us otherwise! This is the most colored colt I (and others more experienced) have seen with very little white showing through. Very few brown feathers are actually visible when the colt flies (future photos).

Preening is a never-ending job as healthy feathers are a matter of life and death.

As junior ruffles the feathers back to smooth them out a bit, the parent does a little work itself.

Stay in touch!

Doug White