Successes and warnings for endangered species

If you read my last column, you know I’m an avid birder. My favorite bird is the endangered Whooping Crane.

I met my first captive pair at the San Antonio Zoo, which runs a well-respected breeding program. We are all fortunate to live near the Whooper’s winter residence: in and around the Aransas Pass National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), where they live from November through April.

The Whooping Crane is America’s tallest bird. Its population declined to fewer than two dozen in the 1940s, due to habitat destruction and pesticides.