Will Be Led By Ultralight To Florida Later This Year

This story isn't about the latest news on the Airbus scandal... or the fight over user fees... but, we'd argue, it is a story close to the heart and soul of general aviation.

This week, Aero-News learned the first whooping crane chick has been hatched at the Necedah Wildlife Refuge. It marks the first time a migratory whooping crane pair has reproduced in the eastern United States since the species dwindled to just 15 birds in 1942.

The chicks are also the first hatched in Wisconsin since the whooping crane reintroduction project began five years ago.

As with the other 63 birds the program has placed in the wild since the program began... the birds were raised from chicks by costumed humans, and then trained to follow ultralight aircraft on a path from Wisconsin to Florida to learn the migration route south. Subsequent migrations have then occurred without the aid of their ultralight "parents."

Larry Wargowsky, manager of the Necedah Wildlife Refuge, called the hatching a "major milestone."

The fate of the newly-hatched chick... and its sibling, who at last report was still in its shell... is now up to the parents, who must teach the chicks to survive in the wild before they reach maturity.

If all goes to plan... and everyone is optimistic it will... the chicks will join eight others brought to the refuge recently, that will depart from Necedah at the end of summer... following an ultralight... to learn the way to their winter homes for years to come.

FMI: www.fws.gov/midwest/Necedah/