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Storms disrupt cranes' travels
By ALEX LEARY CHASSAHOWITZKA -- With storms brewing in the Southeast, the flock of whooping cranes, following ultralight aircraft, made a break for Florida on Saturday.
"The weather forecast for Monday is not looking any better than today, but as we know from the past, forecasters can be wrong," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chuck Underwood said from Hamilton County. With 138 miles to go before reaching Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus, the anticipation has grown among pilots and the other researchers making the 1,200-mile voyage from Wisconsin. "It's been a long haul and we've had a lot of bad weather days," said Paula Lounsbury, who flies a Cessna 1,000 feet above the ultralights. "But we're finally on the last leg." The cranes left Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin on Oct. 17 and have covered 1,078 miles. On Saturday, they flew 38 miles from Cook County, Ga., to Hamilton County, north of Live Oak. Knowing a storm was brewing, the pilots left at 7:34 a.m. under sunny skies. But they encountered thick fog near Valdosta, Ga., and had to make an unplanned landing in a harvested cotton field. Once the fog lifted, the ultralights took wing again and led the cranes the remaining 10 miles, touching down in Florida at 10:57 a.m. The seven cranes are unwitting participants in an ambitious experiment to save the endangered species. Fewer than 400 whoopers are alive today, including the only migratory flock, which spends time in Canada and Texas. Scientists want to establish another group of migratory birds and have turned to ultralights as the means to that end. The cranes have been trained to follow the small craft since hatching in a Maryland laboratory. If the experiment is successful -- it worked last fall using sandhill cranes -- birds will be led to Florida over the next several years.
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And although they made it, the celebration was short-lived as lingering winds on Sunday kept the historic migration from progressing, delaying an arrival in Citrus County until at least Wednesday.
