Operation Migration 2010 whooping cranes take off on tenth anniversary

[Donna]

http://www.operationmigration.org/crane-cam.html Operation Ultralight is once again under way

The reintroduction of the whooping crane via Operation Migration has turned ten as the 2010 class took off from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin on Friday.  Operation Migration has raised whooping cranes at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center since 2001 and then trains them to migrate from Necedah to their winter grounds at either St. Marcks Wildlife Refuge near Tallahassee, Florida or Chassahowitzka National Wildlife near Homassa, Florida

Whooping cranes learn the migration from their parents, but these chicks are raised by handlers.  Operation Migration teaches the new birds to migrate by teaching them to follow them in an ultralight airplane.  Once they are taught the first time they are then capable of making the migration on their own.

The goal of the organization is to create a second colony of whooping cranes in Florida.  The only naturally occurring population of whooping cranes lives in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park and migrates south to their wintering grounds in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. This colony consists of approximately 250 birds.  The fear is that if a disaster happens to this colony like a ferocious storm or maybe a disastrous oil spill (hmm that could never happen) the majestic whooping crane could go the way of the passenger pigeon or ivory-billed woodpecker and become extinct.

The exciting aspect of the migration for Chicago bird watchers is they have several opportunities to witness a fly over.  The migration skirts the Chicago area and they have stop overs at three locations within a two hour drive of downtown.  The organization posts a fly over location at each stop and encourages visitors to witness the cranes in formation as they follow the ultralight.

The stops near Chicago are in Winnebago County, Lasalle County, and Livingston County.  Check their in the field report section for updates.  Those not interested in making an early morning rural Illinois adventure can follow the cranes on the crane cam.

They took off on the first leg of the trip on Friday although it was a little chaotic as several birds choose not to follow the plane and had to be carted to the next stop over.  The Operation Migration team is starting this year’s journey with heavy hearts as only days before the scheduled take off one of the star cranes of the class was found dead in its pen.  
 
A good way to console the Operation Migration team is with your financial support.  It is possible to donate any amount of money on their website and they also have fun ways to give by becoming a mile marker.  A mile marker means that the sponsor has pride in knowing they made one mile or a half or even a quarter mile of the trek possible.

[Bobbie Ireland]

I would love to see one of those fly-overs, Donna! (You know how I love my Cranes... whatever the spp.)

Apropos... I am sure everyone has seen "Fly Away Home" - I could watch it over and over again. And I have.

[Donna]

Bedeviled by strong head winds some 600 feet above the fields and forests of Wisconsin, the sputtering start of this year's human-led migration of nearly a dozen whooping cranes to Florida was anything but soaring.

One bird was injured, another was found dead of unknown reasons. For a couple of days, the ultralight took off and cranes began to follow, but strong winds grounded the effort.

Then, on Sunday, the 10th annual trek led by Operation Migration began from Necedah in Wisconsin bound for the west coast of Florida. According to an online log of the journey, only seven initially took off and kept up with the ultralight. The remaining four scattered and headed back to their pens.

"Leading birds on a migration is a little like walking on sand," researcher Joe Duff wrote in today's log. "For every positive step you take forward, there is a little backward slippage."

The first day, as described by the entry, was "controlled confusion." But things will settle down, researchers say. They always do.

Once they get going, the cranes will fly 20 to 25 miles a day.

The program has enjoyed a measure of success. Each fall a dozen or more young whooping cranes are led out of the shivering Great Lakes region by a human flyer in an ultralight aircraft. The human shows them the way to go and they catch on after that. Each year, a new batch of cranes gets the tutorial.

The trips are led by the nonprofit Operation Migration and typically, the 1,300 mile trek ends at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge south of Crystal River after a few months in the air.

This year, half the flock will be dropped off at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge south of Tallahassee and the rest will continue to Chassahowitzka, said Liz Condie, spokeswoman for Operation Migration.

She said the first several days of each migration are always rocky. The birds decide they don't want to fly and head back home or they veer off for whatever reason. Once they get into unfamiliar territory, they tend to fall into line, she said, and follow the ultralight.

"It takes one or three days," she said, "before they get the hang of it."

The cranes are monitored during their winter stay in Florida until one day in the spring when something kicks in and they head back to Wisconsin, she said.

"They only need to be shown the way once," Condie said. "After that, they're on their own."

This is the 10th migration run by the group, she said. The ultralights have helped about 140 whooping cranes learn migration routes over that time, she said.

As difficult as it is, researchers try not to become attached to the birds. The cranes aren't given names and handlers don't talk to them. Researchers dress up in crane looking outfits when dealing with them, Condie said.

"We want them to avoid humans," she said, "to not be looking for handouts."

The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America measuring nearly 5 feet tall with a wing span of more than 6 feet. The species was near extinction in 1941, with only 15 left. Now, about 100 birds make up the eastern flock.

The only other wild whooping crane flock in North America has about 260 birds and migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast. A non-migratory flock in Florida has about 60 birds.

The young birds making the yearly trips are hatched in captivity usually in April or May. They are raised at Necedah until they begin their migration in the fall.

Operation Migration is part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, an international coalition of public and private organizations working on the crane restoration project.

Just how long the migration trek will last is anybody's guess, Condie said.

"It's impossible to predict," she said, as weather and bird issues can prolong trips. "Our shortest migration on record was 48 days," she said. "The longest took 98 days. It has gotten progressively longer over the years."

[Paul Hamilton]

The cranes and aircraft are aloft right now, flying through central Alabama, on their way to Florida!
It's 9 AM EST, and the inflight camera is live.

http://www.operationmigration.org/crane-cam.html

Go, Whoopers!

Paul

[Dumpsterkitty]

The cranes and aircraft are aloft right now, flying through central Alabama, on their way to Florida!
It's 9 AM EST, and the inflight camera is live.

http://www.operationmigration.org/crane-cam.html

Go, Whoopers!

Paul

First time I've actually seen them!     Cool!

Ei

[Bobbie Ireland]

The cranes and aircraft are aloft right now, flying through central Alabama, on their way to Florida!
It's 9 AM EST, and the inflight camera is live.

http://www.operationmigration.org/crane-cam.html

Go, Whoopers!

Paul

Ooooooo, I am excited! Next year, it is Montezuma Cranes on my Tick List. (No, Carol P, not those ticks! Very big ICK!!)

[Donna]

Weather stalls training trip of whooping cranes

Ten young but large endangered whooping cranes took off from the Savannah, Tenn., area Thursday to continue their migration training trip behind an ultralight aircraft. Patrick March of Nashville watched and took photos as the Operation Migration pilot maneuvered through the air about 7:30 a.m., making sure all were following. "It's just the most thrilling thing you can imagine," March said.

An eleventh bird, taken Wednesday to the West Meade Veterinary Clinic in Nashville, wasn't among the birds.

The crane had been diagnosed by Dr. Michael Lutz as having an injured wing tendon and wasn't up to a long trip to a Florida refuge by air. He will travel by truck. "This crane will become part of the Whooping Crane Recovery Captive Population and will be sent to a breeding program or to a research or display facility," U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tom MacKenzie said in an e-mailed statement.

The group, which had been stalled in Tennessee for at least four days because of weather, made it 110 miles, as far as Walker County, Ala., on Thursday. Friday, they flew another 58 miles, to Chilton County, Ala. The cranes, which are 6 or 7 months old, had gone about 813 miles, with another 472 to go.

This is the tenth group of birds to take part in a project led by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, an international coalition of public and private groups that is reintroducing this highly imperiled species in eastern North America.

About 106 whooping cranes exist in the wild in eastern North America because of the efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Three ultralight aircraft and the juvenile cranes are on a route from Wisconsin through 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.

"This is more than simply an experiment in wildlife reintroduction," said Joe Duff, senior ultralight pilot and CEO of Operation Migration. "It is a struggle against all odds."