Each year in mid-April, over 2,000 volunteers travel to their local wetlands and favorite birding locations to participate in the annual Midwest Crane Count. The survey of Sandhill and Whooping Cranes spans over 150 counties in seven states of the upper Midwest. This year’s event is Saturday, April 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. CT.
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For decades, conservationists have worked to combat threats that nearly drove the Whooping Crane to extinction. Their population hit a historic low of only 21 individuals in the wild in the 1940s. As part of the effort to save the species, a population of migratory Whooping Cranes was reintroduced to Wisconsin in 2001, known as the Eastern Migratory Population, or EMP. Today, the EMP consists of around 70 individuals who spend their summers in Wisconsin before migrating further south for the winter, mostly in Alabama and Indiana. Through this reintroduction and countless other conservation measures, there are now about 700 Whooping Cranes in the wild in three populations. Despite this impressive growth, threats continue to emerge that threaten the species’ survival, and these must be met with creative research, dedicated partnerships, and decisive action to safeguard the future of Whooping Cranes.
During December, the 2025 Whooping Crane cohort in the Eastern Migratory Population appears to be doing well, and cranes migrated south to their wintering grounds!
In November, most of the Whooping Cranes left Wisconsin on their southward migration!
