Visit ICF
ICF is open daily (9 am to 5 pm) from April 15 to October 31. When you visit you can take tours with experienced guides to see not only the world's most complete collection of cranes, but see these rare cranes from a frog's-eye view. There are interactive exhibits and a short film. See the natural beauty of Wisconsin and hear songbirds in their natural setting. Visit the Art Gallery to see displays of the finest in contemporary wildlife art. Hike the nature trails through the wetlands, prairies, and savannas. Browse the Ron Sauey Memorial Library with its vast collection of books, journals, and audiovisual materials. In the Schroeder Exhibit Room the educational displays and hands-on exhibits feature egg development and chick growth.
Some of the most intriguing and specialized things to do at the ICF is visit the Chick Exercise Yard where human "chick parents" feed, exercise, and protect "their" brood. At the Flight Demonstration observe one of their cranes flying over the prairie. (See photos of this at http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Nav... )
Among the cranes you can see at the ICF are Wattled cranes and the six-foot Sarus crane. Eleven of the 15 species of crane are vulnerable to extinction. There are crane species on five of the seven continents. Only Antarctica and South America do not have cranes. The sandhill and whooping cranes are native to North America.
The Whooping Crane
The Whooping crane was down to only 15 birds in the last remaining migrating flock by 1941. With laws against hunting and more interest in preserving habitat, the wild flock had increased to over 180 in late 1999.
The flock spends their winters in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge area on the Gulf coast of Texas. They migrate north in the spring and make their nests in the Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles the border of Alberta and Northwest Territories in Canada.
This is the only naturally occurring wild population in the world and as such is at risk of being wiped out by disease, predators, weather, or environmental impact. Scientist realized for the protection of the species there needed to be at least one other flock, which wintered and nested in different locations than the original flock.
