The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) announced today that sandhill cranes led by ultralight aircraft on last falls longest human-led migration have returned to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin. The cranes radio transmitter signals were simultaneously picked up by a crane biologist and volunteer around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27th. The experimental flock departed their wintering grounds at St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve in central Florida on February 25th, where they had been since landing there with ultralights last November.
"My [radio] receiver all of a sudden went crazy." said Rori Paloski, a recent graduate in conservation biology from University of Wisconsin/Eau Claire, and Necedah Refuge volunteer. "For the last three weeks, Ive been listening for the ultralight cranes every Friday as part of my volunteer work on the refuge. I couldnt wait to tell everyone when I finally heard the right signals and knew the birds were back."
The sighting confirms the success of last years sandhill crane experiment, and could pave the way for a similar experiment with endangered whooping cranes following the same migration route. The public comment period regarding a draft Environmental Assessment and proposed rule to reintroduce migratory whooping cranes to the eastern United States recently ended. One option for a reintroduction involves rearing and training a flock of whooping cranes for an ultralight-led migration using the same methods. If the Service adopts the proposal, WCEP will attemp to establish an eastern migratory flock. A decision could come in early June.
Crane biologist Richard Urbanek tracked the ultralight cranes Friday evening to the same pre-migration training area where the specially-trained birds fledged last summer, and visually observed them Saturday morning. Crane chicks traditionally follow their parents south to wintering grounds, and may also follow them back the next spring. These young cranes found their way back to their nesting grounds on their own, as have other ultralight study birds, after having been successfully led on the 40-day, 1,250-mile southern migration last fall by costumed-human surrogate
