Ultralight Plane and Educational Materials
This grant helps pay for an ultra light aircraft and education materials in conjunction with work Operation Migration is doing with endangered Whooping Cranes. Operation Migration is collaborating with the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership to restore a second population of wild migratory Whooping Cranes to the eastern part of North America.
$24,500 plus $24,500 in local matching funds.
The Operation Migration team acts as surrogate parents, raising the Whooping Crane chicks to imprint on the ultra light aircraft and charting their first migration course.
Welcome Back, Whoopers! (Part 2)
It’s the kind of UFO every birder dreams about—a flock of a dozen or more young Whooping Cranes, flying in tight formation, following ultralight airplanes! Not only that, but the pilots of the ultralights are wearing Whooping Crane costumes!
Strange, maybe. True—absolutely. Thanks to the clever conservationists at Operation Migration Inc., new generations of young Whooping Cranes are being taught to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida by following ultralight aircraft. And Wild Birds Unlimited and its customers are helping make it all possible, with a $24,500 Pathways To Nature grant to Operation Migration.
After the young Whoopers are raised at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, they begin a journey into the unknown in the fall of their first year. Weather permitting, the ultralights take off each morning, young whoopers in tow. They fly short distances, sometimes up to a hundred miles or more, returning to earth each night and the safety of their portable pens.
After crossing six or more states on their 1,200 mile plus voyage, the cranes settle in at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where they will spend the winter, exploring their new surroundings.
The following spring, the young Whoopers will migrate north to Wisconsin, on their own. Through fall of 2004, 53 young Whoopers have undertaken this extraordinary trip, and are forming the basis for a new, wild flock of cranes that will grace our skies for many years to come.
For more information on Operation Migration and the Whooping Crane reintroductions, visit: www.operationmigration.org and http://chassahowitzka.fws.gov
The Pathways To Nature Conservation Fund is a partnership between Wild Birds Unlimited stores and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund environmental education and wildlife viewing projects. We encourage all of our customers to visit these incredible places. Your patronage helped make these projects possible!
