This Way Survival: An ultralight plane piloted by an Operation Migration team member guiding whooping cranes from Wisconsin to their winter nesting grounds in Florida.
Sort-of-Feathered Friends Beverly Paulan (left) and Heather Ray, like all Operation Migration workers, wear crane suits when contact with the flock is even remotely possible. The birds are shielded from human interaction at all times.
If Sen. “Byrd” sees them he might sign up on the spot because of the apparel.
Somehow I find those “crane suits” unpersuasive. If I saw those guys I’d expect them to be lighting a cross in someone’s front yard.
I imagine that's what this work is about: getting these "new" Florida cranes accustomed to migration.
I hope they succeed. For many reasons, two viable populations is good wildlife management.
Great post.....first True smile I’ve had all day !!
by the way....Love your tag line !!!
L
The film was loosely based on the real-life experiences of Bill Lishman, a Canadian inventor, artist, and ultralight aircraft hobbyist. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lishman openly wondered if geese and similar birds could be taught new migration patterns by following ultralight aircraft onto which they had been imprinted. In 1993, after several years of logistical and bureaucratic setbacks, Lishman successfully led a flock of Canada Geese on a winter migration from Ontario, Canada to Northern Virginia, U.S.A. Of the 16 birds that participated in the migration, 13 of them returned the following year entirely on their own.
Super post! Thanks!
Bless them and their work.
