International Crane Foundation - A Zoo for Cranes
Living in Wisconsin, we are privileged to be close to the International Crane Foundation. It’s a little over an hour from home.
It’s really a zoo solely for cranes – all 15 species that exist in the world.
We saw 13 of the 15. The other two – the Eurasian and the Black-necked – didn’t poke their heads out of their manmade houses for us.
In addition to the sculpture (above) near the entrance to the Welcome Center, there are other artworks scattered here and there along the path.
The main reason to visit is obviously the cranes. I took multiple shots of most of those that were visible. Most were a lot farther away than my zoomed in edited photos show you here. In fact, I can see more details in some of these pictures than I could in real life.
1 SANDHILL CRANE
This is the only species I had seen before. They’re relatively common in Wisconsin in summer. This one wasn’t really sleeping. He had his eyes open most of the time. I just happened to press the button when he was blinking, I guess.
2 SARUS CRANE
3 BLUE CRANE
4 BLACK-CROWNED CRANE
5 DEMOISELLE CRANE
This guy (just above) was one of a few who came up close and talked to us.
6 WATTLED CRANE
7 GREY-CROWNED CRANE
8 HOODED CRANE
9 RED-CROWNED CRANE
10 BROLGA
We knew of the Brolga from the game Wingspan but had no idea it was considered a crane.
11 WHITE-NAPED CRANE
12 WHOOPING CRANE
13 SIBERIAN CRANE
And a Swallow
In the Whooping Crane Alcove, I heard and then saw this Cliff Swallow in its nest. I will be adding him to my life list.
Technically, you’re not supposed to add birds you see in zoos to your birding life list. I think the Crane Foundation counts as a zoo, so I won’t add the 12 new species of cranes I saw there to my official list, but this swallow was in the wild, so he counts!
We’d been considering this crane trip for some time. I’m very glad we finally accomplished it.