Annual USFWS aerial surveys estimate 540 Whooping Cranes near Aransas NWR in 2025–2026 — roughly flat with last year’s estimate of 557 — as the species enters its tenth year above 500 individuals.

From 2019-2024, our team monitored 81 Whooping Crane nests across Wisconsin to determine the main predators of the population’s eggs.

In May, chicks have started hatching in the Whooping Crane Eastern Migratory Population!

In April, the Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population began nesting in Wisconsin!

The International Crane Foundation is deeply concerned following the recent illegal shooting of a Whooping Crane in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana — the second such incident in the parish in less than two months. It is the third time in just over two years that a Whooping Crane has been poached in the parish.

During March, most Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population arrived on their typical breeding/summering grounds in Wisconsin!

The International Crane Foundation is proud to announce the 50th anniversary of its annual Midwest Crane Count, a landmark milestone for one of the longest-running community science wildlife surveys in North America.

With support of the Mumford and Keller grant award, the International Crane Foundation distributed 18 “Birding Backpacks” throughout western and central Indiana to libraries, fish and wildlife areas, and nature centers. These backpacks are now available for local youth and families to check out at no cost.

I encountered my first Sandhill Crane in the spring of 1973. As a first-year graduate student and an ornithology teaching assistant, I was weak at the knees with my inexperience, yet loving every minute. Drs. George Archibald and Ron Sauey, recently of Cornell University, were just establishing the International Crane Foundation on the northern outskirts of Baraboo, Wis.