First trip to Wisconsin. George Archibald introduced me to the County U Road whoopers. He had been monitoring their daily behaviors with copious notes since they returned to the breeding grounds. These birds were located 20 minutes from George’s farm, 10 minutes from the International Crane Foundation headquarters, and about 20 minutes from Aldo Leopold’s shack—the land where he wrote the now-famous Sand County Almanac nearly 80 years ago.

I was also introduced to Dan and Cathy, landowners whose property the birds crossed each day—often over a busy road—to feed. I camped on their land. I also met their neighbor, Harry, and used his deer blind as my hide, where I could watch the birds’ daily activities: roosting, hunting for rodents and eggs, and being bombarded by red-winged blackbirds.

I learned about the County U Road whooper soap opera, which involved the male and his two mates—one of whom was his sister. Together, they had a month-old chick, although no one knew for sure which female was the mother.

I witnessed an incredible standoff between the whooper adults and a nearby sandhill crane pair with young chicks over a boundary dispute. The sandhills went on the offensive and held their ground. They had been the dominant cranes in the valley before the whoopers displaced them. Now, the sandhill pair was trying to make a life in outlier territory. Archibald said, “They hate each other.”

The biggest concern for the whooper family was crossing the road with the chick—but they learned to navigate the traffic. The chick survived for more than two months. Later, they suddenly disappeared. No one knew for sure what happened, but George believed a coyote likely predated them.