Leucistic Sandhill Crane, Bosque del Apache NWR, Socorro NM

The Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge was founded to celebrate an experimental attempt to reintroduce the Wooping Crane to the Rio Grande Valley flyway. The Wooping Crane was in severe danger…down to a less than a hundred breeding pairs nationwide. And there were none using the historic Rio Grande Flyway. Cranes always lay several eggs, and generally raise only one chick, so eggs were harvested from Wooper nests and placed in the nests of Sandhill Cranes still using the Rio Grande. They hatched, and they grew to maturity…unfortunately they all “thought” that they were Sandhill Cranes and attempted to mate with other Sandhill Cranes. One hybrid was actually hatched and grew to adulthood…but that was the end of the experiment. Thankfully, other experiments to increase the numbers of Wooping Cranes were more successful, and, while still not out of danger, things are looking good for the Wooper.

The Wooping Crane is a big white crane, compared to the predominantly grey Sandhills…so you can imagine the excitement when a white crane showed up among the greys this year at the Bosque. Of course, closer examination showed it to be just another Sandhill, not quite an albino since it retained some grey, and the distinctive red cap of the Sandhill…a leucistic Sandhill Crane. It added a little spice to observing the flocks of Sandhills this year, since there was always a chance of spotting the leucistic crane. I saw it there times around the refuge…never in the same spot twice. It was not very cooperative, photographically speaking…and what you have here is a collage of my three best shots. I only realized that the flight shot was the leucistic crane on reviewing my images when I got home. 🙂

All images Nikon P900. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.