In 1946, an Audubon ornithologist travelled 26,000 miles searching for the unknown nesting ground of America's last 15 migratory whooping cranes; their wild population now approaches 700

By the 1940s, the outlook for the whooping crane was dismal. The bird, which is North America’s tallest and one of its most recognisable species, had been pushed to the brink of extinction, with the last remaining migratory flock declining to just 15 individuals by 1941.

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