A tall crane of North America. Adults have a white body, black wing tips, and a red crown.
Adults are mostly white, with black primary feathers and a red crown. Juveniles begin reddish cinnamon and gain more white feathers as they grow.
The Aransas–Wood Buffalo Whooping Cranes breed in Canada and winter in Texas coastal wetlands, feeding on crabs and plant fruit. This is the wild self-sustaining population.
For winter 2025–2026, the primary survey area held an estimated 540 birds. The Service described the difference from the previous 557 estimate as within the margin of error.
Cranes increasingly winter outside the core area. Tracking and professionally checked public sightings help follow their distribution, alongside conservation monitoring of reproduction and reintroductions elsewhere.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Wetlands across breeding, migration and wintering areas are conservation priorities. Canadian and U.S. partners combine aerial surveys, tracking and verified sightings to monitor wild and reintroduced populations.