We enjoyed a front row seat to the whooper's extensive enclosure. We also enjoyed the education from the knowledgeable tour guide on the 10:00 tour.
Because the mortality rate of young whooping cranes in the wild is quite high, this group incubates the fertilized eggs and hand-raises most of the young in their "cranium." In order to not imprint the babies with a human parent, the caregivers wear all white outfits and use crane puppets over their arms to feed the young chicks.
But once you hand raise a bunch of chicks, how do you teach them how to migrate south to survive the cold Wisconsin winters? This was the group that led their first flock of young birds to their winter migration spot in Florida by rigging a white ultra-light airplane that looked like a whooping crane parent. The pilot of the open-air plane was wearing a crane suit, and the young flock of birds followed his lead south. We had seen the documentary about that trip, and our guide recounted the story for our group. It was good to support a group like this!
There are 15 different types of cranes in the world, and this is the only place where all 15 can be seen. Just like North America's whooping cranes, these large birds in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia are also on the endangered list because of their shrinking habitat. The Crane Foundation helps those other continents with their efforts to breed and raise chicks. Our guide took us on a tour of the enclosures and then let us amble our way around and take pictures. Of course, Denisa took pictures of all of them. We've put the best of her crane pictures at the end of the blog for anyone interested.
Besides all the birds, Denisa enjoyed the wild flowers that were scattered throughout the park.
All of the bird enclosures included signage that indicated the common name, as well as the scientific name of the crane. There was also information about the home territory of each bird.
While in the town of Baraboo, we stopped at their free zoo. They have around 15 different animals. We're always surprised when a little town goes to the expense of hosting animals like bear, lynx, and an arctic fox. But our favorite was the resident beaver--mainly because he was the one willing to pose for us on this hot day.
After sitting down on his leathery beaver tail, he began a long process of grooming for the guests.
After the zoo stop, we were outside for a walking tour of Dr. Evermor's Sculpture Park.
The vision of Tom Every, this gallery was a collection of sculptures made from scrap metal and other salvaged pieces.
Others were sculptures of the native wildlife--like this bigger-than-life-sized mosquito. (Note: while we purchased an artillery of bug spray and mosquito netting, we didn't have any problems with the bugs.)
The largest sculpture in the middle of the park is called the Forevertron, and it wouldn't fit into one photo frame. Perhaps it got its name because you could stare at it forever and not see it all? It's massive, yet intricate.
We especially liked the gooney bird sculptures made out of junked band instruments. Mark used to play the baritone in high school . . .
while Denisa played the saxophone.
A whole band of metal sculptures were conducted by an impressively large conductor.
Mark visited at length with a resident artist working on a clay sculpture of a local military hero.
The Dr. Evermore Sculpture Garden stop was free and just a few miles away. It was another part of our Plan B, and we would recommend it to everyone!
Our final stop of the day was the real reason we wanted to spend time in this part of Wisconsin. Devils Lake State Park is the most-visited park in the state, and we wanted to see why. We postponed the hike we had planned for today, but we did a drive-by to see what else there was to do in this popular park that was covered in smoke.
The smoke really cloaked the distant views that Devils Lake is known for. Denisa waded into the beautifully clear blue water with a few other hardy Wisconsin travelers. We're guessing that the water and views are breath-taking on a less smoky day.
We were watching the weather and the smoke forecasts carefully, hoping that we would still get to do our planned outdoor activities before we left the area. In the meantime, we had laundry piling up. So we found a local laundromat and did some household chores out of the smoke. We had a good time and got some things done with our Plan B here in Wisconsin.
Now for those crane pictures that Denisa had so much fun taking this morning:
The Siberian Cranes get the award for having the longest migration trip--they fly 3,000 miles twice each year.
The White-Naped Crane also resides in Russia. Most of the enclosures at the Crane Foundation included a painted back drop that was reminiscent of their native homeland.
The Black-Necked Crane--not surprisingly--has a black neck. This one is from China.
Japan's Red-Crowned Cranes are the heaviest birds here--weighing up to 25 pounds.
The different cranes have different diets. The Red-Crowned Cranes like aquatic tidbits like this little frog that was trying to keep his distance.
The Eurasian Crane is one of the least endangered of the cranes. With 800,000 in existence, these birds have to fight for territory. The artist included a couple Eurasian cranes in the painted landscape of this enclosure. But it had to be covered with a black tarp when the two resident cranes kept fighting with the painted birds.
The Wattled Crane is the largest crane in Africa.
The Demoiselle Cranes are the smallest of the cranes, and form huge flocks when they migrate over the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. Their head feathers look like a little old man with a bald head on the top and long hair on the side.
The Black-Crowned Cranes are sacred birds in their homeland of Senegal.
The Blue Crane is found in South Africa, and between 25,000 to 30,000 exist.
Standing in the blue water of the enclosure made a pretty mirrored picture of the Blue Crane.
We didn't take any pictures of the common sand hill cranes that we have seen often in Wisconsin this summer. Maybe we'll get a picture of them in the wild?
