Fifth generation of endangered whooping cranes enter Kentucky enroute to Florida Fifth generation of endangered whooping cranes enter Kentucky enroute to Florida
Nearly halfway to their winter destination, twenty ultralight-led whooping
cranes entered Shelby County, Kentucky today to begin the southeastern
portion of their 1,228-mile fall migration to their winter home at
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Crystal River, along Florida’s
gulf coast.
On October 14, the birds left Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin
following five ultralight aircraft operated by pilots from Operation
Migration. They have traveled 486.1 miles. The Whooping Crane Eastern
Partnership, an international coalition of public and private groups, is
conducting this project to reintroduce this highly imperiled species into
eastern North America.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proud to be a partner in the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership,” said Sam D. Hamilton, the Service’s
Southeast Regional Director. “The Partnership began its efforts in 2001,
and there are now 42 migratory whooping cranes in the wild in eastern North
America.”
These cranes represent the fifth generation of birds to make this unique,
assisted migration from Wisconsin to Florida. In 2001, pilots led the
first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight
surrogates, south from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the following years,
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership biologists and pilots conditioned and
guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka National
Wildlife Refuge.
The whooping crane chicks hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, where they were introduced to
ultralights and raised in isolation from humans. Operation Migration
pilots, along with biologists from Patuxent and the International Crane
Foundation, spent the summer conditioning the cranes to fly gradually
longer flights behind the ultralights–the cranes’ “surrogate parents.”
Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there
are only about 300 birds in the wild. Aside from the 42 eastern migratory
birds, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the
Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and
winters at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. A
non-migrating flock of approximately 90 birds lives year-round in the
central Florida Kissimmee region.
More than 35 private landowners have volunteered their property as stopover
sites for the cranes and migration team. A temporary pen keeps the cranes
safe from predators between each morning’s flights. All of the team that
interacts with the birds wears crane costumes to disguise their human form
and uses adult crane puppet heads to mimic adult bird behaviors.
Founding members of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership include the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Crane Foundation, the
International Whooping Crane Recovery Team, Operation Migration, Inc.,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, and Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources.
Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation
groups have joined forces with and support the Whooping Crane Eastern
Partnership by donating resources, funding and personnel.
Nearly halfway to their winter destination, twenty ultralight-led whooping
cranes entered Shelby County, Kentucky today to begin the southeastern
portion of their 1,228-mile fall migration to their winter home at
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Crystal River, along Florida’s
gulf coast.
On October 14, the birds left Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin
following five ultralight aircraft operated by pilots from Operation
Migration. They have traveled 486.1 miles. The Whooping Crane Eastern
Partnership, an international coalition of public and private groups, is
conducting this project to reintroduce this highly imperiled species into
eastern North America.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proud to be a partner in the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership,” said Sam D. Hamilton, the Service’s
Southeast Regional Director. “The Partnership began its efforts in 2001,
and there are now 42 migratory whooping cranes in the wild in eastern North
America.”
These cranes represent the fifth generation of birds to make this unique,
assisted migration from Wisconsin to Florida. In 2001, pilots led the
first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight
surrogates, south from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the following years,
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership biologists and pilots conditioned and
guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka National
Wildlife Refuge.
The whooping crane chicks hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, where they were introduced to
ultralights and raised in isolation from humans. Operation Migration
pilots, along with biologists from Patuxent and the International Crane
Foundation, spent the summer conditioning the cranes to fly gradually
longer flights behind the ultralights–the cranes’ “surrogate parents.”
Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there
are only about 300 birds in the wild. Aside from the 42 eastern migratory
birds, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the
Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and
winters at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. A
non-migrating flock of approximately 90 birds lives year-round in the
central Florida Kissimmee region.
More than 35 private landowners have volunteered their property as stopover
sites for the cranes and migration team. A temporary pen keeps the cranes
safe from predators between each morning’s flights. All of the team that
interacts with the birds wears crane costumes to disguise their human form
and uses adult crane puppet heads to mimic adult bird behaviors.
Founding members of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership include the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Crane Foundation, the
International Whooping Crane Recovery Team, Operation Migration, Inc.,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, and Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources.
Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation
groups have joined forces with and support the Whooping Crane Eastern
Partnership by donating resources, funding and personnel.
