| Fed-trained Cranes Follow Little Planes | |
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Trained to follow ultralight airplanes, a small flock of ten whooping cranes is now being led from Wisconsin to Florida marking the first time in over a century the nearly-extinct birds have flown above the eastern United States.
After three months of training by biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the cranes and the planes departed the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin on October 15, bound for the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, a journey of nearly 1,200 miles over seven states.
After completing the longest human-assisted migration in history, the cranes are expected to return to Wisconsin on their own next spring. If successful, migrating whooping cranes will be restored to eastern North American for the first time in over 100 years. The federally protected whooping crane almost reached extinction in 1941 when the known population dropped to 16 individuals. While today's wild and captive population of whooping cranes nears 400, the migrating group of about 170 birds still face threats from cell phone towers, power lines, oil spills, drought and disease.
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Where are the Cranes Right Now?Track the daily progress of the cranes via this Fish and Wildlife Web site. http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/where/index.htm
Within weeks after they hatched, the young cranes were introduced to the ultralights and began their "flight training" at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland.
The only currently migrating flock of wild whooping cranes numbers about 170 birds making an annual migration from breeding grounds in Canada to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists hope that the establishment of a second wintering grounds in the eastern U.S. will help will help increase the whooping crane's wild population.
"It is truly awe-inspiring to realize that this beautiful bird will once again grace our Eastern skies," stated Acting Director of Fish and Wildlife Marshall Jones. "It is a tribute to how much we can accomplish when caring people work together in partnership to accomplish a great and worthy goal."
A coalition of multiple government agencies and nonprofit organizations formed the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) in 1998. Founding members include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Operation Migration Inc., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, International Crane Foundation, USGS/Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team. Many other flyway States, private individuals and conservation groups have joined forces with and supported WCEP by donating resources, funding and personnel.
The whooping crane, named for its loud and penetrating mating call, is one of America's best known and rarest endangered species. The species lives and breeds in extensive wetlands, where it feeds upon crabs, clams, frogs, and other aquatic organisms. Whooping cranes stand 5 feet tall and are pure white in color with black wing tips and a red crown. Once numbering some 1,400 in North America, whooping cranes fell victim to unrestricted hunting and urbanization of its natural habitat.
• Bringing
Back the Whoopers
Home page of the project to re-establish a whopping crane population in the
eastern United States.
