Ron Losure

You understand correctly, Sonja. This was a program to train whooping crane chicks to follow these little airplanes so they could be shown the way from Wisconsin to western Florida. The route passed through Alabama a couple of hours from my house, so I tried to go see them whenever they went by. I think I saw them only twice. The program was discontinued in 2015. Here is the official statement:

Between 2001 – 2015, Operation Migration pilots used ultralight aircraft and played the role of surrogate parents to guide captive-hatched and imprinted Whooping cranes along a planned migration route, which began in Wisconsin and ended in Florida.

In early 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the aircraft-guided method was too “artificial” and that cranes raised by costumed handlers, missed early learning opportunities. As a result, it was speculated that they did not properly nurture or protect their chicks when they had their own offspring. It was suggested that this inattentiveness was the cause of high pre-fledge mortality at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service exercised its authority over the Endangered Species Act and ended the aircraft-guided reintroduction method.

Thanks, Marvin. In the last ten years or so, a group of sandhill cranes has begun coming to Alabama for the winter instead of passing through Nebraska. A few whooping cranes usually accompany the sandhills.