[Book review] Return of the Whooping Crane

Fewer than 40 years ago, Life magazine ran an article decrying the plight of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) on their wintering grounds at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (Aransas) along the Gulf Coast. The small flock of approximately 20 birds that summered at Wood Buffalo National Park (Wood Buffalo) in Canada and wintered on the Texas coast at Aransas comprised the entire wild population of the species-a population that at the time seemed to be drifting inexorably to- ward extinction. Today, the Aransas/Wood Buffalo flock numbers more than 140 birds, there are more than 30 birds in captivity at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), and another 20-plus birds at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are also a dozen wild birds in an experimental flock (termed the Rocky Mountain flock by Doughty) that winters at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in New Mexico and summers in the mountain valleys centered on Grays Lake NWR in Idaho.