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On to the Whooping Crane exhibit, which was unique in that it had a covered seating area where people could comfortably relax and watch a pair of nesting Whooping Cranes.

Recovering from a low of

only 21 birds in the wild in

the 1940s to around 600 birds

today, while still very much

an endangered species, the

Whooping Crane's recovery

is one of conservation's most

inspiring success stories.

This is an exclusively North American crane, with two distinct migratory populations: one summers in northwestern Canada and winters along the Gulf Coast of Texas; the other makes central Wisconsin its

summering grounds, then heads to the southeastern United States during the winter—individuals from that group pass over my house within the

Sandhill Crane flocks.

Small, non-migratory populations live in central Florida and coastal Louisiana.

One crane tended the nest, arranging the dried reeds to suit some instinctual pattern of weave that the bird finds satisfying.

The other bird went fishing.