Whooping Cranes, Led By Ultralights, Continue Long Journey

What could well be a species' last hope of survival in the air is, to the uninitiate, a pageant on the ground. But it's one few will see. A flight of 14 whooping cranes, led by an ultralight, passed through Indiana this week and they stopped near Bob Burton's house.

Burton, a pilot, lends his hangar to Operation Migration every year as the group helps the endangered whooping cranes south for the winter.

"The key to the whole operation is to keep the birds away from humans," Burton told the Mooresville/Decatur (IN) Times.

Burton watches as three ultralights, which overnighted in his hangar, gather up the cranes, flying slowly over the field where they've rested. As the first ultralight passes overhead, 13 of the graceful, white birds take off to follow. The second flies by and the sole remaining crane follows. The pilot of the third ultralight keeps an eye out for stragglers.

It's been an annual right since 1988, involving several species of cranes that would otherwise have no idea where to go for the winter.

"The birds are raised with the sound of the engine from the time they hatch," Burton tells the newspaper, pointing out the pilots wear a white suits and huge goggles, so they look... well... crane-like. "The baby whooping cranes think that’s their mother."

FMI: www.operationmigration.org