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Fulton, Texas. Raising its neck out of the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world’s last surviving whooping cranes searches a Texas marsh for food during its annual migration to the Gulf Coast.

Its high-protein diet is supposed to sustain the bird through the winter and prepare it for the nesting season in Canada. But this year, the state’s severe drought has made food and water scarce, threatening the only self-sustaining flock of cranes left in the wild.

The lack of rain has made estuaries and marshlands too salty for blue crabs to thrive and destroyed a usually plentiful supply of wolf berries. In addition, a long “red tide,” or toxic algae that blooms in salty water, has made it risky for the birds to eat clams, which retain the algae’s toxin and can pass it along the food chain.

“We’re very concerned, monitoring the population closely to see what the reaction might be,” said Dan Alonso, manager of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, the winter home of about half of the 300 cranes in the flock.

In 2009, when Texas last had a severe drought, an estimated 23 whooping cranes died between November and March, when they typically head north to nest in Canada. Tests showed some had contracted rare diseases and were undernourished, while others starved to death.

This year, at least one crane has already died, Alonso said.

Scientists are alarmed because they don’t normally see dead birds so early. Usually, only about three die over the winter.

A century ago, the whooping cranes’ majestic 1.5-meter frame and mournful call were common across the Texas shoreline and as far away as the east and west coasts. But by the 1940s, the pesticide DDT and disappearing habitat decimated the population, leaving only 14 birds in America.

The ban of DDT and efforts by scientists and Gulf Coast residents helped rebuild a small population. Eventually, Alonso said, scientists hope to grow the population to 1,000 nesting birds and list the species as threatened, a more secure status than endangered.

Drought can have long-lasting effects on a species’ recovery. For example, if the birds don’t get enough protein in the winter months, more could die on the 4,025-kilometer journey back to their summer nesting grounds, said Lee Ann Linam, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The cranes don’t stop to eat while flying back to Canada, so the nutrition they get in Texas is crucial. In addition, Linam said, the high-protein diet is key to a successful nesting season. Cranes produce one chick per season, so there is little room for failure.

Another concern is water. When the birds are in Texas, they normally survey a 2.6 square kilometer area on foot for food. But if there is no water, they will fly to drink. That uses up precious energy and potentially makes it easier for predators to nab them.

“Whooping cranes don’t do as well when there are lower amounts of freshwater coming into the bay systems,” Linam said.

Associated Press