Ripple's Wetland Dance

Ripple was found with a damaged wing, likely from a power line strike, a young sandhill crane. Her flight feathers wouldn't regrow correctly. We gave her a large wetland enclosure with another non-releasable crane for company. Their spring courtship rituals were breathtaking—leaping, bowing, wing-spreading, and tossing vegetation into the air. Her call was a loud, rolling garoo-oo-oo that echoed across the property. The wetland is silent now, missing her graceful, stilt-legged walks through shallow water, the dramatic dances, and the prehistoric sound of her calls.