Whooping Cranes Begin 10^th Trike-led Flight

October 15, 2010 — And they’re off! Eleven young whooping cranes began their weight-shift trike-led migration from central Wisconsin to Florida this week, in an effort to reintroduce the endangered bird to eastern North America. The whopping cranes departed Necedah National Wildlife Refuge on October. 10, and flew — at least most of the 11 did — 23 miles to Juneau County. That’s where they have stayed due to gusting and swirling winds. “Leading birds on a migration is a little like walking on sand,” senior ultralight pilot Joe Duff wrote in the Operation Migration field journal. “For every positive step you take forward, there is a little backward slippage.” That’s because, besides dealing with unpredictable weather, they are dealing with somewhat unpredictable birds that don’t always do what they want them to do.” Three light-sport aircraft and the juvenile cranes will travel through Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia to reach the birds’ wintering habitats at Chassahowitzka and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuges along Florida's Gulf Coast.  “Safeguarding an endangered species does not come with guarantees. More than simply an experiment in wildlife reintroduction, it is a struggle against all odds,” said Duff, who is also CEO of Operation Migration, the WCEP partner that leads the ultralight migration.   In 2001, Operation Migration’s pilots led the first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their LSA surrogates, south from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR in Florida.  Each subsequent year, WCEP biologists and pilots have conditioned and guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Florida. Having been shown the way once, the young birds initiate their return migration in the spring, and in subsequent years, continue to migrate on their own.  In 2008, St. Marks NWR along Florida’s Gulf Coast was added as an additional wintering site for the juvenile cranes.  In addition to the 11 birds being led south by LSA, biologists from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reared 11 whooping cranes at Necedah NWR.  The birds will be released later this fall in the company of older cranes from whom the young birds will learn the migration route.  Whooping cranes, which stand about five feet tall, and have white bodies, black wing tips and red crowns on their heads, were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 570 birds in existence, approximately 400 of them in the wild.

The Ground Crew's view: Peeking through the peephole of the sight barrier watching flight training at North site. Photo credit: Operation Migration Whooping Crane 9-10 in the foreground, while her cohort mates stroll around and forage in the pen. Photo credit: Operation Migration The circled bird, known as 4-10, died on October 7 for no obvious reason. “All we know is that one of our best birds is gone on the eve of the migration, and to paraphrase my daughter, that sucks,” wrote Joe Duff on the Operation Migration field journal. Photo credit: Operation Migration

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