Travels with Fam
Zugunruhe at Crex Meadows
Zugunruhe! We are at Crex Meadows, near Grantsburg, WI, on November 8, 2025, almost exactly 48 years from the time Ron Crete and John Toepfer were anxiously preparing for their epic trip. It is freezing outside. A cold front had come through Northwestern Wisconsin...
At the Gate
We are early. The gates to the International Crane Foundation (ICF) won’t open for another hour, but we are already there — parked just outside the entrance on a cold November morning, waiting for the Great Midwest Crane Fest to begin. The silhouettes of dancing...
The Journey Begins
Travels with Fam follows the migratory pathway of sandhill cranes from Minnesota and Wisconsin to their wintering grounds in Florida; a route established nearly 50 years ago through ground-breaking research by young midwestern researchers. In the late 1970s, wildlife...