Well, whoopers fly at about 35 to 40 miles an hour, depending on wind velocity. And the trip from Wood Buffalo to Aransas is about 2,600 miles. Aside from natural predators, whooping cranes face a variety of threats. Powerline collisions are a major problem, because there are so many of them along the whooper's migration path. Cranes often don't see them when they are flying.
Habitat loss continues to threaten whoopers, as well.
And as habitat dwindles, migratory birds tend to congregate at the same wetland migratory stopovers, which increases the risk of diseases like avian cholera. In the long run, climate change could also negatively affect whoopers, if the wetlands they depend upon begin to dry up. In many of the areas that are now North American prairie, there were glaciers 13,000 years ago. These glaciers moved over time, and they exerted an enormous pressure on the ground, creating depressions in the earth. When the glaciers melted, water collected in the depressions.