Awe-Inspiring Flight Of Man And Crane

So many of us who fly know there are few joys that compare to soaring with the eagles. But what about carousing with cranes?

Prehistoric whooping cranes numbered just 15 in 1941. Since then, environmentalist efforts to save the endangered birds have increased that number to 425 or so in Necedah (WI) alone. "We're just getting started," said Tom Stehn, a co-chairman of the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team. He was quoted in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "The proof will be when they really start breeding and reproducing on their own. But this has been a fantastic start."

The problem is to get them to act like whooping cranes. To do that, they have to migrate. Right now, there's just one flock of migratory whooping cranes. So, using an ultralight, preservationists hope they can teach 125 of the birds to fly south for the winter.

In the fall of 2001, eight whoopers flew south from the refuge in Juneau County to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, along Florida's western coast. Seven of the birds survived the 1,218-mile trip, arriving in Florida 48 days after they left Necedah. The following spring, five of them returned to Wisconsin without any help at all.

"They know where they're going, exactly," said Richard Urbanek, a wildlife biologist who followed the migrating birds in a truck, tracking signals from radio transmitters attached to their legs.

Last year, 16 cranes followed the ultralight on the migration to Florida. All of them returned to Wisconsin or neighboring states, including six that spent the summer on the Necedah refuge.

FMI: www.operationmigration.org