The 20 Whooping Cranes in the 2009 hatch class from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin have made it as far as Illinois on their migration to wintering grounds in Florida. Cranes need to fly the migration route once to imprint it in their brains. In the wild, they'd be led by their parents or other adult cranes. These birds, raised from hatching by humans (costumed as cranes), need first-time help. They're led by an ultralight aircraft team, all volunteers. They're part of the Operation Migration effort to help restore Whooping Cranes to their former eastern U.S. range. The birds flew 34 miles yesterday (Nov. 5). They're grounded by weather today. For more information, and to follow this year's migration day by day, go to www.operationmigration.org/ and click on In the Field.
Track migration of the Whooping Crane class of 2009 from Wisconsin to wintering ground in Florida here.
The photo of cranes training behind an ultralight aircraft at Necedah NWR was taken there three summers ago.
