I was going through some older photographs and came across a photo of an ultra-light aircraft Cosmos 532-ES that I took a few years ago at the Patuxent Research Refuge which is just a few miles from home. It spiked my interest in getting a current migratory status report of the Whooping Crane. While at Patuxent's Central Tract, I only got to see one Whooping Crane. And the only reason he was in sight is that he had been "banished" from the mating pool because he has shown no interest in a potential mate for a number of years.
At Patuxent, Whooping Cranes, or "whoopers," are hatched and raised in a carefully controlled environment designed to prepare them for their release into the wild. Employees wearing costumes to mask their human form use a whooper puppet head to teach the chicks to eat and swim, take them for walks, and introduce them to an ultralight aircraft, which will serve as a mechanical parent for their migration. Just before the chicks are ready to fledge—get off the ground on their own and fly—they are transferred to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin. Fledging there causes the cranes to remember the refuge as their breeding territory. After completing their training in Wisconsin, the cranes are ready for the ultralight-guided migration to their winter grounds. By guiding juvenile cranes on their first migration and showing them the way from Wisconsin to Florida, the ultralight-aircraft pilots teach the cranes a new, safe migration route and reintroduce them to the core section of their historical breeding range.
http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/index.html
Anyway, here is a photo of one of the ultra lights used in this extensive project. Does anyone see or get any photos of "Whooping Cranes ?
