10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2019

There’s little doubt that these unwilling but plucky exiles have beaten the odds over the last few months, first evading the sights of eager autumn hunters, and then the jaws of hungry foxes and weasels, only to endure the many privations of the harsh and long North American winter eking out their survival in a strange and inhospitable landscape.

North America 113

North America Vermont America Farming 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Nationwide, wildlife watchers now outspend hunters 6 to 1. Of the Central Flyway states, Nebraska alone holds out in protecting the cranes, having proven by its longstanding Festival of the Cranes in Kearney that a crane is worth infinitely more alive and purring in the sky with its family than thudding, broken and bleeding, into a cornfield.

2011 245

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 245

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2020

This boldness isn’t restricted to exchanges with other grouse, either: in some locales, members of this circumpolar family are astonishingly foolhardy around humans. And, on any other night, that could very well mean grouse is being served, as the Scottish table is famed for the bounty of its abundant fish and game.

Sheep 196

Sheep Branding Ireland Fowl 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

So, one might surmise, it’s OK if they get shot by hunters thinking they’re sandhill cranes? What could motivate gunmen (I cannot call them hunters) in two states to deliberately kill North America’s tallest and most critically endangered bird? That’s what you do with other game, right? Do all hunters realize that?

2011 242

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 242