Whooping cranes return on their own to Wisconsin
Date: 24-Apr-02
Country: USA
One of the original eight was believed to be en route to the swampy Necedah Wildlife Refuge, following a fast 11-day flight from their wintering grounds at the Chassahowitzka Refuge in Florida, said scientists from the project, Operation Migration.
The goal of the project is to establish a second wild flock of the highly endangered birds in the eastern half of the United States. Another flock of 140 whooping cranes migrates between the Gulf Coast of Texas and Canada, but scientists want to expand the population and create a buffer against threats from a disaster, pollution or disease.
Indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss once reduced the global population of the majestic cranes, among the largest in nature at 5 feet tall (1.5 metre), to just 15 birds in the 1940s.
As many as 20 juvenile cranes hatched at a government farm in Maryland will be trained in the coming months to join the initial flock established in Wisconsin.
Two out of the original eight cranes in the experiment were killed by bobcats at their Florida wintering grounds. Another was electrocuted by power lines on the initial migration to Florida.
The five that have successfully migrated back to Wisconsin all completed the journey south by trailing behind ultralight aircraft flown by pilots wearing costumes to fool the birds into thinking their trainers were adult cranes. The trainers also never spoke in the cranes' presence so as not to let the birds lose their fear of humans.