Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
June 22, 2001

In November 2000, the nonprofit group Operation Migration flew a flock of captive bred, nonendangered Sandhill cranes through a successful first migration with an ultralight.

Ten of America's endangered whooping cranes are going to be taught to migrate, not by their parents but by an ultralight aircraft.

Once there were thousands, but the large distinctive cranes were on the verge of extinction in 1940 due to loss of wetland habitat, hunting, and egg and specimen collecting. Today, as a result of intense conservation efforts, there is a non-migratory flock of about 86 cranes that lives year round in central Florida and another group of 174 migrating birds.

Currently, these 174 cranes migrate each year between wintering areas at Aransas National Wwildlife Refuge in Texas to nesting areas in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta.

Conservation biologists worry that these few cranes might be wiped out by a natural event such as a hurricane or a human caused disaster such as a chemical or oil spill.

A second migratory group of whooping cranes in the East would provide insurance against such a disaster and move the species closer to recovery but they must learn a migration route from which whooping cranes have long since vanished. Enter, the ultralight.

Biologists will train the flock of about 10 young whooping cranes to follow an ultralight across seven states from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin to Chassahowitska National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.

If all goes as planned, the birds will learn the migration route during the trip and return from Florida to Wisconsin on their own next spring. If they accomplish that migratory feat, it will establish a second migratory whooping crane flock, and it will be the first time in more than a century that whooping cranes have migrated across the skies of eastern North America.

The experiment will be conducted by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, a consortium that includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, state agencies, conservation organizations and private citizens.

Private donors are contributing more than half of the $1.3 million needed to complete the project. More than 40 private landowners have offered their property to be used as overnight sites for the migrating cranes.

"This bold experiment is a model of how to recover an endangered species," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "It combines innovative science, partnerships with local landowners and States, public and private funding, and reduced federal regulation. It could provide a blueprint for future recovery efforts for other threatened and endangered species."

This whooping crane migration experiment is modeled on the work of Canadian inventor Bill Lishman who 13 years ago hatched a flock of Canada geese and taught them to follow an ultralight aircraft, a story told in the 1996 feature film "Fly Away Home."

In early July, 10 whooping crane chicks raised at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center will be transferred to Wisconsin's Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. The birds will undergo three months of specialized training with ultralights, using the same techniques used successfully last year with a flock of 11 sandhill cranes that were taught to fly the same migration route with an ultralight aircraft.

The experimental flock of newly trained cranes are scheduled to depart in mid-October and fly over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia on their way to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. About 25 private, state and federal lands will be used as stopover points for the birds, aircraft and personnel.

The experiment is not without risk. Biologists are doing all they can to ensure success, but they warn that some birds may be lost during the longest aircraft-led migration ever attempted.

"We are proud that national wildlife refuges are playing such a pivotal role in bringing this magnificent bird back to eastern North America," said Marshall Jones, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"What a fitting tribute it would be for the public to be able to see a second population of wild whoopers migrating through our refuges when we celebrate the National Wildlife Refuge System's 100th anniversary in 2003." Error: Unable to read footer file.