Photographer Michael Forsberg reveals the lives of Whooping Cranes like never before and Tragopan Blinds played a role. Support Michael's work and buy his book Into Whooperland
By Michael Forsberg
In the 1940s, whooping cranes were on the brink of extinction. Due to unregulated hunting and habitat destruction across their range, roughly 20 birds existed in the wild. Today that number has risen to roughly 800 in wild and captive populations. Whooping cranes are survivors, resilient, and a hopeful, conservation success story. But their recovery has a long way to go in our 21st century world.
I’ve had the privilege to spend the last five years working on telling the whooping cranes story, documenting their hidden lives with camera in hand from remote wilderness nesting grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada to sprawling salt marsh wintering grounds in and around Aransas NWR along the Texas Gulf Coast, and on migration through the heart of North America’s Great Plains, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth.
Like most wildlife that evolved in wide-open grassland ecosystems, a whooping crane has keen eyesight, tremendous hearing, and is extremely wary of human disturbance, so much of my more intimate work had to be done from blinds, for hours or sometimes days on end, and always working with permission and in collaboration with biologists, landholders, agencies and organizations charged with their conservation in agencies in both the US and Canada. In short, I couldn’t mess up.
Tragopan blinds were my go-to blinds when it wasn’t feasible to work from already established blinds, or where it didn’t make sense to make my own. They are easy to set up, to modify when necessary, and I knew from experience that they were rugged enough to hold up sometimes for weeks or months in the harsh conditions that I’ve worked in for 30+ years in the Great Plains. They never once let me down.
Michael captured his spectacular image of a Whooping Crane flock in front of a rising full moon using this Hokki Ground Blind setup.
"The Hokki Ground Blind was just large enough to lay prone in, but with a heavy sleeping bag and camera gear, food and water bottle, it was cozy and I kept reasonably warm during the below freezing nights" ~Michael Forsberg
Rainwater Basins, south-central Nebraska, USA
A flock of migrating whooping cranes consisting of 15-20 birds, including two family groups, were returning to roost nightly to a series of protected wetlands managed as a federal waterfowl production area surrounded by prairie grassland in an agricultural landscape of corn and beans. After a couple days of watching the whooping cranes daily patterns from distant county roads with binoculars and spotting scope, I worked with the local biologist in charge to set out a blind on the edge of one of the roosting wetlands in a brushy area of last year’s prairie sunflowers. For the situation to work, it obviously required the whoopers choose this wetland and not one of the others to roost. Second, I had to be in the blind by the middle of the afternoon when all the birds were out in the fields feeding and prepared to not leave the blind until the next day. I got lucky. The whoopers came in first a couple hours before sunset, not to roost but to drink, They cavorted with each other, wired by the hormones of spring, and danced. They left within minutes back to the fields for another round of feeding, then just as the sun set they came in again, this time to roost. They settled in their respective pairs, family groups and subadult clusters just to the left of me. When I woke the next morning they had moved right in front of me, and with thin bracelets of ice below their ankles, began dancing and cavorting with each other again. I couldn’t believe it. They were gone by sunrise.
With permission and help of biologists, Michael setup his Hokki Ground Blind at a night roost in Nebraska and waited for the Whooping Cranes to return for this image.
"I had to be in the blind by the middle of the afternoon when all the birds were out in the fields feeding and prepared to not leave the blind until the next day...when I woke the next morning they had moved right in front of me and began dancing and cavorting with each other. I couldn’t believe it." ~Michael Forsberg
Boreal Wetlands, Wood Buffalo National Park, NWT, Canada
In 2023, crane biologist Andy Caven and I were granted rare special permission to observe, photograph and film whooping cranes at the nest in Wood Buffalo National Park. It is the birds last nesting stronghold, a wetland, roadless wilderness and one of the largest national parks in the world. After months of prep work and permissions, carefully selection of a nest site, and intense weeks of planning, logistics and protocols, our team took in two Tragopan Blinds we had modified with mosquito netting inside and outside, and placed them side by side in a nesting territory. We stayed in the blinds for 8 consecutive days and nights without ever leaving. The effort was hard, but the reward was to witness these rare birds live their lives in this wilderness cathedral and successfully hatch two whooping crane chicks. Andy documented nearly 100 hours of behavioral observations, and I captured thousands of images and seven hours of video footage that now can be leveraged for use in both science and storytelling for whooping crane conservation for years to come.
Michael is one of the few photographers to ever be granted special permission to photograph a wild Whooping Crane nest in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park. (Images taken by permission of Canada Parks Agency).
"Our team took two Tragopan Blinds we had modified with mosquito netting, and placed them side by side in a nesting territory. We stayed in the blinds for 8 consecutive days and nights without ever leaving." ~Michael Forsberg
The teams setup consisted of a Monal and a Tragopan V6 Blind placed side-by-side.
Prairie potholes region: southern Saskatchewan, Canada
Each fall when whooping cranes leave their remote boreal nesting grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park, their first major stop to rest and refuel on their 2500 mile long migration is the Saskatchewan prairies. I spent nearly three weeks on a Ducks Unlimited Canada managed wetland, working out of two blinds, to document this first fall staging area on their migration when those successful nesting pairs have their 4 month old rapidly growing cinnamon colored chicks in tow. One of the blinds was homemade by a friend and put in place a month before I arrived. That blind I could sneak in and out of easily and was spacious inside. The other blind was a Tragopan I placed shortly after I got a handle on the daily rhythms of the birds and their comings and goings. This one I would get into by late afternoon and not leave until the next morning. Together, the blinds complimented each other and provided unique views of different parts of the large wetland and gave me some choice based on weather, water levels, and light. The Tragopan blind was just large enough to lay prone in, but with a heavy sleeping bag and camera gear, food and water bottle, it was cozy and I kept reasonable warm during the below freezing nights. Several times I had one family of whoopers that I would get to know well in the project spend time outside my blinds that I would later nickname the “Church family” due to the Catholic church that would sometimes reflect in this wetland from the village nearby. But one night stands out above all, when I repositioned the blind just slightly so that it would be in direct line with the full moon rise, imaging these white wonders moving through the frame just as it was cresting the horizon. I never thought in a million years it would actually happen, but as the moon rose a flock of whoopers came in calling. They landed outside my view but then began walking right into the frame, and paused to drink. I had to look at the back of the viewing screen on my camera several times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t sleep that night.
We salute all of the photographers and filmmakers out there who go to great lengths, not just for the images, but to tell the pressing conservation stories of our time. Thank you, Michael, for all you do and for your beautiful testimonial to inspire and protect one of our rarest birds, Into Whooperland
