Okay, but... cranes!

E40. There are only 15 crane species on the planet, and 11 of them are in trouble. Dr. Andy Caven, Director of Central Flyway Programs for the International Crane Foundation, has spent his career on two of them: the sandhill cranes that pour into one stretch of Nebraska's Platte River every spring, and the whooping crane, which came back from the edge and is still nowhere near safe. Scott asks him what it actually takes to keep a bird like that on the landscape, and the answer runs through soggy grassland, private ranches, and one river worth fighting over.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• The number Andy gives for how many cranes stand on that stretch of river, which Scott makes him say twice
• How a bird that was down to a couple of dozen individuals ended up stopping a dam
• What a wet meadow is, and why one is so much easier to lose than to build back

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

• Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504
• Wilson's Phalarope audio contributed by W. Douglas Robinson, ML474658841
• Swamp Sparrow audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94352