A Rare Sight Indeed

This Sunday afternoon after church, we loaded up in Benjamin's truck and headed off to my parent's home in Kinder.  It is a 30 mile drive north and west from Jennings.  We like to take the back roads to get there.  As we turned due west on the last leg of the trip, I spotted three white birds standing in a rice field.  They were about 20 yards from the road.  They were so tall, so out of place, I immediately knew what they were - Whooping Cranes!

Whooping Cranes are on the endangered species list.   A quick search on Wikipedia informed me that back in 1941 there were only 23 birds.  Now there are over 800.  The whooping crane is North America's tallest bird, standing well over 4 feet tall, with a wingspan of over 7.5 feet wide.  We pulled over on the side of the road and just watched them for a while until a car drove up from behind us and we had to move on.

The map shows that they breed up in Canada, migrate down to winter on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf coast.  Some stay year-round, though. 

They were on the brink of extinction due to habitat loss, predators, such as bobcats, alligators, and wolves, but mostly because of illegal hunting.  It was great to be able to watch these majestic birds and know that you are looking at 3 of only 800 in the world, but I wanted to tell these guys to pick a more secluded spot.  I don't want them to end up in a gumbo.