Home › All birds › Whooping crane

The Whooping crane (Grus americana) is a bird found in United States and Canada. Wetlands, marshes and coasts in Canada and the United States. It eats insects and other small invertebrates, small mammals and birds and reptiles and frogs. The IUCN Red List lists it as Endangered.

🏡 Where the Whooping crane lives

Wetlands, marshes and coasts in Canada and the United States.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐛 Insects & bugs20%
• 🐭 Mammals & birds20%
• 🦎 Reptiles & frogs20%
• 🐟 Fish20%
• 🍎 Fruit10%
• 🌰 Seeds & nuts10%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Whooping crane

Recorded by Sue Riffe (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC533637. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Whooping crane

Where does the Whooping crane live?

The Whooping crane lives in United States and Canada. Wetlands, marshes and coasts in Canada and the United States.

What does the Whooping crane eat?

insects and other small invertebrates (about 20%), small mammals and birds (about 20%), reptiles and frogs (about 20%), fish (about 20%), fruit (about 10%), seeds and nuts (about 10%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Whooping crane endangered?

Very few are left in the wild. Its IUCN Red List category is Endangered.

More birds from North America

• Pileated woodpecker
• Black-necked stilt
• Bufflehead
• Red-shouldered hawk
• Pied-billed grebe
• Pale-vented pigeon

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.