BARABOO, Wis. — The International Crane Foundation is marking the 50-year anniversary of its crane conservation efforts in Wisconsin. The foundation houses all 15 crane species in Baraboo.
That includes Spritely, a grey crowned crane. This particular crane species is native to Africa and is considered endangered.
“She is a little more friendly than a lot of our other birds so some individuals, I wouldn’t be able to go in with like this as they are typically a little more aggressive, but she is used to people,” said International Crane Foundation aviculturist Jessica Colvin as she fed Spritely peanuts.
Colvin’s job is to help take care of all 15 species of cranes. Sometimes, that involves breeding them.
“We have adult whooping cranes that will parent rear chicks and we release both of those here into Wisconsin, so those will be birds that are in the eastern migratory population that come up here to Wisconsin in the summer for breeding and then they fly south to Indiana and Alabama,” said Colvin.
Kim Gray is the foundation’s chief operating officer. Gray said at one point, the whooping crane population in North America was less than 20.
Restoring the population is one of the reasons the foundation started 50 years ago.
Gray said the organization’s founders, Dr. George Archibald and Dr. Ron Sauey, met at Cornell University during their PhD programs. Sauey was from Wisconsin.
“The two of them came together for cranes,” said Gray. “They came together realizing this type of bird was one of the most endangered species of birds and no one was really paying attention to them.”
Now, the International Crane Foundation works with more than 50 countries on crane conservation. Gray said maintaining cranes doesn’t just benefit that species.
“They range a large span of habitats from Canada all the way to the south coast of Texas and on the Texas coast, fishing and blue crab are important industries there, which are animals that they eat so if you preserve that habitat for cranes, you preserve it for the fisherman as well,” said Gray. “So we should not forget that preserving an animal for the future is preserving humans for the future as well.”
For Colvin, who has always loved animals, it’s an effort she is proud to be a part of.
“Of the 15 different species of crane, they all kinda have their own personalities and it’s really fun to get to know them and learn the different quirks and behaviors of each individual crane,” said Colvin.
Since 11 of the 15 crane species are either threatened or endangered, she encourages others to come out to the International Crane Foundation to learn about the species and support their efforts.
The International Crane Foundation will be hosting its 50th year anniversary celebration on Sept. 16.
