You can never really judge a book by its cover… or can you?
The origin of the ‘Cover Story’ and its message both followed what I had researched, written and later submitted for publication. What followed could only have been the work of serendipity.
Its composite picture was, at least to me, something of an accident. When I submitted the manuscript for publication only the picture of cranes flying across the face of the moon was to appear on the cover. Michael Boyce, Resident Manager of Michigan Audubon Society’s Baker Sanctuary had only recently photographed them. When Wendy, my wife - Larry Walkinshaw’s daughter, and I visited there in August 2007, Mike graciously offered it to us for the cover. Walkinshaw’s portriat beneath the cranes is the work of celebrated LIFE photojournalist Alfred Eisendstadt when assigned to Larry during week-long studies of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska in the 1950s. It was submitted to iUniverse the publisher as the book’s Frontiespiece.
Unbeknown to me the iUniverse, Inc. graphic artists thought otherwise. They combined the two images to creat the stunning one appearing on the front cover (more subdued here than in actuality). Little did they know the interwinning of aesthetic beauty and history they had created!
The essence of this is its poignancy. For years, Walkinshaw led the charge as Chairman of Michigan Audubon Society’s Crane Sanctuary Committee leading to establishment of Baker Sanctuary in 1941. At that time it represented the world’s first and only sanctuary devoted exclusively to saving cranes. During the 1930s Walkinshaw and Aldo Leopold, the preeminant academic conservationist with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, thought fewer than 40 pairs of Greater Sandhill Cranes nested in the United States. Once there were thousands. After Larry published The Sandhill Cranes in 1949 and Cranes of the World in 1973, everyone knew he had established the foundation upon which all future crane research and salvation would reside. Thus Baker Sanctuary… within walking distance of Larry’s boyhood home, where he first sighted Sandhills and encountered their first nest providing him inspiration … represents the very genesis of all worldwide crane recovery - for Larry and for cranes.
Today, thousands of crane lovers flock to Baker Sanctuary each October when attending CraneFest. Thanks to the foresight and actions of Larry Walkinshaw they sometimes see as many as 8,500 roosting Sandhills in a single day… a new Michigan record.
Restoring the World’s crane populations… It all started at Baker Sanctuary. As noted on the front cover, the return of the cranes is “the wildlife equivalent of putting a man on the moon“, according to John Christian, USFWS, 2003.
Everyone knows you can’t judge a book by its cover… or can you now that you know the rest of the ‘Cover Story’? To proceed with rest of Larry Walkinshaw’s improbable Life Story,, obtain a copy and probe beyond its cover.
Copies available across the Internet, call the publisher at 1-800-288-4677 or purchase several from your favorite conservation organizations: International Crane Foundation; World Birding Center; Aransas National Wildlife Refuge; Corpus Christi Audubon Outdoor Club; Michigan Audubon Society; The Port Aransas South Jetty newspaper among many other commercial outlets.
