Book excerpt: Learn all about the tall, noisy whooping cranesee it dance, follow its flight path, and watch the stages as a chick hatches and grows into a cinnamon-colored juvenile and then into a stunning white bird with black wing tips and a red head. Why is this bird endangered? Devastating loss of habitat and overhunting of eggs and of adults for their skin in the 1800s made their numbers dwindle. By 1942, there were only sixteen whoopers still living in the wild. Now the whooping crane is making a comeback. In 2007, over 300 whooping cranes were migrating between Canada and Texas. Find out what scientists are doingand what you can doto help this endangered animal.