Leki is a young whooping crane who has no idea that a spectacular journey is about to begin. He lives with his parents, Toluki and Karla, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Leki has had many adventures there, like the day he ran across wild wolves! Still, his biggest adventure is yet to come as his parents prepare for their annual October migration. Every year, the whooping cranes travel south to warmer climates for the winter. Toluki and Karla plan to take young Leki 2,400 miles, all the way from their home in Canada to a winter resting place on an island in the Gulf of Mexico. The path they take is called "the crane track," and it is a journey filled with wild weather and hungry hunters. Whooping cranes are graceful creatures with white feathers and up to an eight-foot wingspan. Once almost extinct, there are now 513 whooping cranes in the world, and many of them travel the same path as Leki and his parents. Nature is a carefully balanced, beautiful machine. It's up to us to protect the path of the cranes' migratory journey. So is little Leki up for the trip?

Millions of people know a little bit about efforts to save the whooping crane, thanks to the movie Fly Away Home and annual news stories about ultralight planes leading migratory flocks. But few realize that in the spring of 1941, the population of these magnificent birds--pure white with black wingtips, standing five feet tall with a seven-foot wingspan--had reached an all-time low of fifteen. Written off as a species destined for extinction, the whooping crane has made a slow but unbelievable comeback over the last seven decades. This recovery would have been impossible if not for the efforts of Robert Porter Allen, an ornithologist with the National Audubon Society, whose courageous eight-year crusade to find the only remaining whooping crane nesting site in North America garnered nationwide media coverage. His search and his impassioned lectures about overdevelopment, habitat loss, and unregulated hunting triggered a media blitz that had thousands of citizens on the lookout for the birds during their migratory trips. Allen's tireless efforts changed the course of U.S. environmental history and helped lead to the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Though few people remember him today, his life reads like an Indiana Jones story, full of danger and adventure, failure and success. His amazing story deserves to be told.

It’s been 50 years since the United States attempted a conservation revolution with the passing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Now, fifty years later, the Fish and Wildlife Service finds itself at a crossroads: some recovery efforts are succeeding, but too many are either failing or stuck in neutral, even after decades of work. Take, for example, the story of two cranes, the whoopingcrane of southeastern Texas and the red-crowned crane of northern Japan. Both were pushed to the brink of extinction by the early 1900s, with surviving populations numbering as few as 20 to 40 individuals, and are now the subjects of concerted recovery efforts led by advanced national governments. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has focused mainly on habitat protection, while at Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, conservation authorities have leaned most heavily on direct population survival via a long-standing winter feeding program. These two case studies provide a template for comparing different approaches towards endangered species: habitat management vs. population management. Thus far the Japanese approach has proved more successful, but the story isn’t over yet. What can these lessons teach us about managing other endangered species? Can species rehabilitation be standardized, or must each effort be designed and implemented on a case-by-case basis? A Tale of Two Cranes will serve as a launching pad for better understanding the progress and pitfalls inherent in endangered species management, through 50 years of lessons learned since the landmark Endangered Species Act was enacted by the United States Congress in December 1973. Also considering its success stories like the Attwater’s prairie chicken, the ESA has had an enormous impact on conservation theory and practice throughout the world, from Tasmanian devils in Australia to the vaquita porpoises of Mexico. But, worsening government budget constraints, public inattention, and a continuous string of setbacks experienced within numerous rehabilitation initiatives will all eventually conspire to challenge the conventional thinking on endangered species management like never before. Author Nathanial Gronewold explains how we got here, where things stand today, and what lessons conservationists must take to heart as the world continues to struggle to put a halt to an ongoing global extinction crisis.

"Accompanied by the stunning photography of Thomas D. Mangelsen, A Chorus of Cranes details the natural history, biology, and conservation issues surrounding the abundant sandhill crane and the endangered whooping crane in North America. Author Paul A. Johnsgard, one of the leading authorities on cranes and crane biology, describes the fascinating social behaviors, beautiful natural habitats, and grueling seasonal migrations that have stirred the hearts of people as far back as medieval times and garnered the crane a place in folklore and mythology across continents.Johnsgard has substantially updated and significantly expanded his 1991 work Crane Music, incorporating new information on the biology and status of these two North American cranes and providing abbreviated summaries on the other thirteen crane species of the world. The stories of these birds and their contrasting fates provide an instructive and moving history of bird conservation in North America. A Chorus of Cranes is a gorgeous and invaluable resource for crane enthusiasts, birders, natural historians, and conservationists alike."

Describes efforts by scientists to reestablish a whooping crane flock that would spend summers in Wisconsin and winters in Florida.

Animals of all shapes and sizes make epic journeys across our planet, through harsh weather, avoiding hungry predators, in their efforts to survive. Travel around the globe with some of the world's most incredible animals and discover their unique migration stories. Follow the emperor penguin through snow, ice and bitter temperatures; watch as the great white shark swims 10,000 km in search of seals; track huge herds of elephants, on their yearly hunt for water and be amazed at the millions of red crabs, migrating across Christmas Island. With stunning colour illustrations, uncover the astonishing migrations of 20 creatures, in this truly inspiring narrative. Written by Mike Unwin, a UK Travel Writer of the Year, and illustrated by Jenni Desmond, winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book, prepare yourself for a journey like no other. Follow the amazing migrations of these 20 creatures: Arctic tern, barn swallow, bar-headed goose, ruby-throated hummingbird, osprey, wandering albatross, whooping crane, emperor penguin, African elephant, blue wildebeest, caribou, straw-coloured fruit bat, humpback whale, green turtle, Southern pilchard, salmon, great white shark, monarch butterfly, globe skimmer dragonfly, Christmas Island red crab