Local birders report rare sighting

Hooded crane—a native of Siberia—spotted in open fields near Carey. - Jason Kauffman

MSA honored for work done at the International Crane Foundation

MILWAUKEE - MSA Integrated Project Delivery has won a Top Project of 2009 Award for the new Spirit of Africa Exhibit at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo.

Vietnam forest fires threaten rare crane

Hanoi - Forest fires in a national park are threatening the habitat of the endangered red-crowned crane, Vietnamese officials said Wednesday.

Crane chicks hatch hours after 'epic' road trip thanks to volcano flight ban

The first crane chicks set for release into the wild as part of a reintroduction project in Britain have hatched — just hours after the eggs completed an "epic" 17-hour road trip from Germany, experts said today.

Photograph: RSPB/PA

Federal court will sort out water rights for whoopers

The suit alleges that water use policies caused the crane’s food source to decline to the point that the endangered birds starved to death during a two-year drought in this region. - by Kenda Nelson

Volunteers rise early to count cranes

Bird-watchers fanned out across central Wisconsin's wetlands to participate in a statewide count of sandhill cranes. - By Karen Madden

Cranes' eggs due for collection for Great Crane Project

Conservation experts from Somerset will be collecting cranes' eggs in Germany as part of a plan to repopulate the Somerset Levels with great cranes. - BBC

Flight ban hits Slimbridge wild cranes project

A project to re-establish wild cranes in Somerset has been hit by flight restrictions introduced because of the volcanic ash cloud over the UK.

Common cranes make surprise appearance at reserve

Staff at an Angus nature reserve have said they are "stunned" by the arrival of four common cranes at the site.

It's a Bird! It's a Crane! It's the Coachella Mascot

BY Alissa Walker

This year, Crimson Collective, an L.A.-based group of artists, architects, and designers constructed Ascension, a 45-foot tall crane with a 150-foot wingspan.

Michigan Tech Graduate Plays Foster Mother to Whooping Cranes

By Jennifer Donovan

When she graduated from Michigan Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, Eva Szyszkoski had never seen a whooping crane. Now, as tracking field manager for the International Crane Foundation (ICF), she migrates with the big white birds each year from southern Wisconsin to Florida and back to Wisconsin, monitoring and tracking the Eastern Migratory Population on its semi-annual trek.

Cranes under threat from illegal traders

This is more than double last year's going rate for two black-market blue cranes and could be behind a recent upsurge in poaching. In the past two weeks, nine blue cranes have been rescued in four separate incidents after they were illegally removed from their Karoo habitat in the Eastern Cape. By BONGANI MTHETHWA

Rescued sandhill crane recuperating at SeaWorld

The Associated Press- A sandhill crane rescued in central Florida is recuperating at SeaWorld Orlando, where it underwent surgery for a neck injury caused by a blowgun dart.

Plucky whooping crane gives wildlife experts hope

By JOHN McFARLAND (AP) – Mar 16, 2010

There are about 400 wild whooping cranes in the world, and biologists had feared that number would drop further this winter after last year's record 23 Texas deaths. Even though the birds fared better than expected — only one died this winter — the cranes face many obstacles to survive as a species.

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

Whooping cranes will be tracked with GPS units to study their habits and hazards

By David Brown

Washington Post Staff Writer

WOOD RIVER, NEB. -- Each dawn and dusk, numberless birds stopping here to feed on their migration north take to the air. Against the steel-colored sky they look like iron filings wheeling and milling to an invisible magnet.

Korea's DMZ Will Soon Be Open For Ecotourism

By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil

In 1953, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was established to provide a buffer between the conflicting Northern and Southern nations--and today it is the most heavily militarized border in the world. But amid this icon of armed standoffs, in the narrow strip that divides the Korean Peninsula where no one is allowed, a highly diverse ecosystem has blossomed

An Uncertain Future... A Final Comment

What is the future of this flock and the work that's been done? No one can be sure, and perhaps as time goes on and individual flock members are lost, it will simply diminish in numbers. Without propagation, it will eventually, in our lifetime, become non-existent. Predation, poor habitat, food issues, power lines and drought have already claimed a figure that hits over 40% of the birds that were brought to Necedah for flight training and are gone. - Mark Chenoweth

UN HELPING TO SAVE SIBERIAN CRANE FROM BRINK OF EXTINCTION

NAM NEWS NETWORK Feb 25th, 2010

BALI (INDONESIA), Feb 25 (NNN-UNNS) — The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is helping to save the iconic Siberian Crane a critically endangered species, numbering between just 3,000 and 3,500 by stabilizing its flight path used for annual migration.