The Whooping Crane is the tallest North American bird, and also one of its most endangered. At five feet in height, the mature Whooping Crane is nearly all white, except for a rust-colored cap and facial stripe. Immatures have brown feathers on the neck and body.

The Whooping Cranes breeds in the wild at Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Manitoba. The entire population (estimated at about 200), migrates across the Great Plains and winters at Texas' Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Whooping Cranes prefer large areas of undisturbed wetlands.

Whooping Cranes eat Blue Crabs, clams, minnows, small fish, frogs, berries and some small birds.

Whooping Cranes have one of the most elaborate courtship displays in the avian birds that includes wild jumping, gyrating, bobbing and calling to their mates. The females lays two large eggs and both adults incubate them. The eggs hatch at different times. The chick born last is often pushed out of the nest. For this reason, ornithologists have begun taking such chicks and depositing them in the nests of Sandhill Cranes. Chicks can fly three months after hatching.

Habitat destruction led to the precipitous decline of the Whooping Crane. Today, there are three captive populations of Whooping Cranes that have been raised by scientists. While Aransas National Park protects Whooping Cranes, breeding Whoopers at Wood Buffalo remain susceptible to oil spills from the large number of barges which use that part of the Hudson Bay. Whooping Cranes are also killed on migration by power lines.