Hillary Thompson grew up in rural Wisconsin, hearing the Sandhill Cranes calling from the marsh. She attended the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she earned a BS in Zoology, Conservation Biology, and Scandinavian Studies. She traveled the country after graduation and studied insects in the forests of Yellowstone National Park, sea lions in the Columbia River, and salmon in the streams of Oregon, before starting as a Field Ecology Intern at the International Crane Foundation in 2012. Since then, she hasn't really left ICF and even studied Whooping Cranes for her MS research at Clemson University. Now, Hillary leads the International Crane Foundation's Wisconsin-based Whooping Crane field team and is the president of the North American Crane Working Group.
