Wisconsin's Cows, Cornfields and Cranes

     Wisconsin is well-known for its cows and dairy farms and award-winning cheeses, but the state is awash in cornfields too.

I suppose a crop farmer can never have too many silos.

     I've been enjoying south central Wisconsin's country roads (click here for map location), driving slow from one little town to the next -- Montello, Portage, Wisconsin Dell to name a few. On one of these aimless drives on County Road U (they assign single and double letters  instead of numbers to their county roads), I happened upon the International Crane Foundation. Smack in the middle of thousands of acres of cornfields, was a selection of the world's cranes, all 15 species! Slammed on my brakes and promptly parked. What an unexpected find! This lady gave a group tour . .

. . . and explained how they're snatching one Whooping Crane egg from a breeding pair and raising it with crane costumes, to help boost the population. Back in the 1940s there were fewer than 20 Whooping Cranes. Today, there are more than 400. This center in Wisconsin is responsible for starting a colony in Wisconsin and the new safer migration route to Florida.

     I apologize for the poor quality of this movie (inexperienced operator error), but what you'll see is a rare Whooping Crane alarm call, dance and unison call. This pair was upset about a crane costume they had seen earlier. The tour guide told us she's been doing this tour for 24 years and this dance and alarm and unison call (separate calls) was a first for her. Note; you'll have to be on the blog's webpage to see this movie.

     The tour included trails to marshy and prairie areas where there are Sandhill Cranes (not in captivity). And it also included captive-held cranes from around the world. The African cranes have winter shelters. This is the Blue Crane from Africa; a new pair they hope will breed.

This is the Grey Crown Crane from Africa.

This is the Asian White Naped Crane which is vicious.

     There's a plexiglass sheet behind the fence because it was damaging its beak on the chain-link fence, trying to intimidate humans. Since they stand almost six feet tall and have hard beaks and thorns, they can hurt humans.

     This is the Siberian Crane which doesn't need a winter shelter; it loves snow. All cranes live to quite an old age, a captive one was known to live to 80 years old.

     One of my favorite travel bloggers (and an excellent photographer) is Mona Liza Lowe. She does a much better post on her visit here two years ago. Click here to read her well-written and well-photographed post.

Wisconsin, to be continued . . . .