Into Whooperland

by Michael Forsberg

Into Whooperland tells the story of award-winning nature photographer Michael Forsberg’s five-year journey following the lives of Whooping Cranes. In vivid prose and haunting images, he documents individual Whoopers as well as the loose network of biologists, landowners, and volunteers committed to maintaining and restoring one of the most endangered bird species on the planet. Into Whooperland gives a previously unseen glimpse of these extraordinary birds at the nest, during migration, and in their natural habitats from Texas to Canada.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Michael Forsberg is a Nebraska native whose 25-year career as a photographer and conservationist has been dedicated to wildlife and conservation stories in North America’s Great Plains, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth. His images have been featured in publications including Audubon, National Geographic, Nature Conservancy, and Outdoor Photographer magazines. His fine art prints are in public and private collections, and his solo exhibitions have traveled nationwide.

In 2017, Mike received the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography from the Sierra Club in Washington DC, and the Environmental Impact Award from the North American Nature Photography Association. Also, in 2017 his image of sandhill cranes on the Platte River was selected to illustrate USPS’s Forever stamp celebrating Nebraska’s 150 years of Statehood. In 2000, his photograph of a Nebraska tallgrass prairie was issued as an international airmail stamp as part of the United States Postal Service’s American Scenes Series.

Mike is the author and photographer of On Ancient Wings – The Sandhill Cranes of North America self-published in 2005, and Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2009. He was featured in the NET Television documentary Crane Song, and co-produced Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, based on his book of the same title, released on PBS in 2013.

In 2011, Mike co-founded the Platte Basin Timelapse project (PBT) in partnership with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Michael Farrell Photography and Fine Art. Today it operates as a long-term multi-media documentary project to inform scientific research, build education content, and tell stories of a Great Plains watershed in motion. A documentary film for PBS, titled Follow the Water based on the project and Mike's traverse across the Platte Basin watershed was released on PBS nationally in 2019.

Mike serves as faculty with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is a Fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Daugherty Water for Food Institute. He is also a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, and represented by the National Geographic Image Collection.

He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his family, a cat, and three unruly dogs.

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cranes need Fitbits!
I hope that I will get to see a whooper one day…

[Mackenzie Marrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, educational, and beautiful book!

I admit, I know little about Whooper Cranes- often getting them mixed up with Sandhill Cranes at my viewing. And Forsberg takes you through their history, lifestyle, and habits in an accessible and factual manner. His commitment to the Cranes and their continued survival is abundant and I learned a lot that I had never even considered before. Firstly, I wasn't even aware there was a population issue with them (though most of it was before my time). And the whole concept of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program Components was completely foreign to me. I don't know why I never considered someone was actually taking stewardship of the Platte. I thought it was just...there

The photographs in Into Whooperland are breathtaking, and I enjoyed learning the stories and context that accompanied them. My favorite portions are the aside stories where Forsberg delves deeper into his travels and in-person experiences with the Whoopers. The section "Eight Days in a Blind" is breathtaking, and he writes with real poetry. The familial bonds and day-to-day life of these Cranes we followed were described with such reverence and beauty.

Through the nature of my work, I have read quite a few photography books, and the writing of the photographer is often the weakest part. Leaving the heavy lifting to the contributors. The contributors, Rene Ebersole and Rich Belifuss do an incredible job, but Forsberg's writing stands on its own.

"My journal doubled as a mosquito swatter, and gradually filled with blood-stained scribbles and sketches as the days progressed"

"I feel small here. I know I am only a visitor on sacred ground."

"I stand shaking on the edge of a
cotton field near Tom Steed Reservoir,
Four whooping cranes were illegally
shot and killed here.
-
One whooper survived the initial shots
but died of its injuries as Oklahoma
game wardens tried to save it. Almost
three months later, feathers from the
dead remain, scattered like confetti in
the scrub. The shooters tried to hide
the birds before they left the scene, but
one of the cranes had a tracking device
attached to its leg.
-
Now a cardinal, red as blood, holds vigil
nearby. It's been here since I arrived.
This is a haunted place."

[Rhonda Kruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I asked for this book for Christmas (after hearing about it on the ABA podcast) and loved it even more than I imagined. Here in Wisconsin, I see Sandhill Cranes regularly and am fascinated by their unique beauty and grace. I will definitely visit the ICF this year and hope to one day see a Whooper in the wild. They are amazing creatures and, like all birds, deserve our efforts to preserve habitat in their winter and breeding grounds, as well as along the “Whooper Highway”

Thank you, Michael Forsberg, for this beautiful book!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recently fortunate enough to see and photograph whooping cranes in south Texas. I wanted to learn more about them, so I read most of this book on the plane going to Texas and finished it on the plane going home. I learned a LOT and really enjoyed this very well-researched book. I was particularly tickled to see a photo of Brutus and learn more about him and to see mention of Lori Sims’s boat, from which I viewed the whooping cranes. Good people, and good book.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author writes of his interesting experiences following the whooping crane migration and the photography is spectacular!