BirdWatching USA – September-October 2019

APRIL 22-26, 2020

 





    

 





  

   

     

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Learn more at BirdiestFestival.org

Painted

Bunting

http://www.BirdWatchingDaily.com 19

continue to find ways to help the species. No moment drove

that point home as much as this: When our tour boat arrived

at the territory of a crane family on the Aransas refuge, a

young man on board turned to his girlfriend (both of whom

have worked with captive Whoopers), got down on one knee,

and asked her to marry him.

She said yes.

Matt Mendenhall is the editor of BirdWatching.

George Archibald on saving cranes

During this year’s

Whooping Crane

Festival, George

Archibald, co-founder

of the International

Crane Foundation

and one of the world’s

most accomplished

conservationists, was

asked why he dedicated

his life to saving cranes.

Here’s how he replied:

“Well, we only have one life to live, and I discovered cranes

when I was 18 years old in Alberta, Canada. That interest

led to my graduate studies at Cornell on the evolution of

cranes, and at Cornell, I learned a lot about international

conservation and about how cranes are doing worldwide.

And I knew if somebody didn’t do something to help them,

we might be losing some of the species in the near future.

So, I felt a great responsibility to help this family of birds,

and I’m just one individual, so I decided to dedicate my life

to helping cranes.

“I think the most significant contribution I’ve made is to

establish a foundation that now has hundreds of people

involved in helping cranes, and that effort will continue long

after I’m gone.”

And what does he want people to know about the

Whooping Crane?

“The Whooping Crane is one of the great treasures of North

America, and I want to thank all of the people in many

states and provinces who have been responsible for helping

them. It’s the response of the public in general that’s made

this bird capable of surviving on our human-inhabited

continent. I’m grateful to all those people, and I hope that

the public will continue to embrace the conservation of the

Whooping Crane.

“We have lots of environmental problems with sea-level

rise and climate change and industrial development and

coastal development. And I hope that our governments

and the people in general will always be supportive of

protecting our endangered species — Whooping Cranes

and everything else.”

Ma
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end

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all

George Archibald