MONROE - A flock of young Whooping cranes has been grounded in Green County since Oct. 29, along with their 12-member "flight crew."
The 14 cranes, hatched in Maryland this spring, are part of Operation: Migration, a non-profit, Canadian-American program to reintroduce endangered Whooping cranes into eastern North America since 2001.
For being the youngest group ever to make the flight, the cranes are doing well, "better than in the past," Joe Duff, leader of the crew, said Friday.
Duff, along with Bill Lishman, began Operation: Migration in 1994. Lishman was the subject of the movie "C'mon Geese," that documented his formation flight work with Canadian geese.
The usual age of the cranes is about 145 days, Duff said, but this year, the youngest crane flying is only 128 days. The eldest is about 40 days older.
After hatching, and being hand fed with a crane head puppet, the fledgling birds are released into the care of Operation: Migration and shipped in crates to the wildlife refuge in Necedah, Wis., where they imprint on an ultra-light aircraft and learn to fly behind it.
"They learn to fly in circles there," Duff said. Some will fly only 200 feet; others will fly up to two miles.
In October the cranes are led on a migration to Florida, where they will spend the winter, before making the flight back by themselves to Wisconsin.
"Some get nervous when we leave, and return to the reserve," Duff said. "But these have followed beautifully."
Those that don't want to follow and return have to be crated and trucked to Florida.
The trip this year also is "a bit odd" in that it started later than ever, Oct. 27, Duff said.
"The flight takes 23 days, with 23 stops," he said.
But the 23 days is stretched out to as much as six weeks if the winds are not favorable. The longest the trip has ever taken is 97 days, from Oct. 8 to Jan. 27, 2007.
The cranes will not fly into a wind, and the operation stops until a gentle north wind blows.
The cranes fly at about 38 miles per hour, but a head wind of 20 mph means a ground speed of only 18 mph.
"It's like paddling upstream," Duff said.
This year, the flight has taken an extra day in Baraboo and four days in Mauston, and now, 10 days in Monroe and New Glarus.
When wind conditions are right, the flight starts early in the morning, and lasts only two to three hours.
Members of the flight crew, Canadians Don and Paula Lounsbury donate one month each year to fly their airplane over the cranes and their ultralight leaders.
Their job is to provide "top cover" for the flock in flight, and are on "bird frequency," tracking each bird and maintaining communication with the ultralight pilots and the ground crew.
Each crane wears a tracking device on its leg, and each bird has a different frequency.
If one bird falls out of formation, Don can tell where is. A bird is most usually tired if it falls out of formation, Don said.
The Lounsburys follow it and can guide the ground crew to within 100 feet of where it lands. It is then called in with a bird call, and crated.
Paula said southern Wisconsin is her favorite part of the trip. The rolling hills are "spectacularly beautiful," she said.
Don started volunteering as a member of the ground crew in 1993 when Operation: Migration was working with Canadian geese; Paula joined in 1995.
Paula said they got notified by the end of September for the trip. Along for the ride in the mobile home is their Boader Collie and cat.
"We brought the whole family," Paula said.
The 12-member crew, half Canadians and half Americans, includes crane handlers, ultralight pilots, and drivers for the motor homes, cars and equipment trailers.
The crew will be replaced with another crew in Tennessee, to finish the trip to Florida.
In past years, the Lounsburys hoped to be home by Christmas, until they "took a cue from the cranes" and bought a condo in Florida for the winter, Don said.
Now they hope to get home for a couple weeks to winterize and shut down their farm in Canada before returning to Florida by Christmas.
The 14 cranes, hatched in Maryland this spring, are part of Operation: Migration, a non-profit, Canadian-American program to reintroduce endangered Whooping cranes into eastern North America since 2001.
For being the youngest group ever to make the flight, the cranes are doing well, "better than in the past," Joe Duff, leader of the crew, said Friday.
Duff, along with Bill Lishman, began Operation: Migration in 1994. Lishman was the subject of the movie "C'mon Geese," that documented his formation flight work with Canadian geese.
The usual age of the cranes is about 145 days, Duff said, but this year, the youngest crane flying is only 128 days. The eldest is about 40 days older.
After hatching, and being hand fed with a crane head puppet, the fledgling birds are released into the care of Operation: Migration and shipped in crates to the wildlife refuge in Necedah, Wis., where they imprint on an ultra-light aircraft and learn to fly behind it.
"They learn to fly in circles there," Duff said. Some will fly only 200 feet; others will fly up to two miles.
In October the cranes are led on a migration to Florida, where they will spend the winter, before making the flight back by themselves to Wisconsin.
"Some get nervous when we leave, and return to the reserve," Duff said. "But these have followed beautifully."
Those that don't want to follow and return have to be crated and trucked to Florida.
The trip this year also is "a bit odd" in that it started later than ever, Oct. 27, Duff said.
"The flight takes 23 days, with 23 stops," he said.
But the 23 days is stretched out to as much as six weeks if the winds are not favorable. The longest the trip has ever taken is 97 days, from Oct. 8 to Jan. 27, 2007.
The cranes will not fly into a wind, and the operation stops until a gentle north wind blows.
The cranes fly at about 38 miles per hour, but a head wind of 20 mph means a ground speed of only 18 mph.
"It's like paddling upstream," Duff said.
This year, the flight has taken an extra day in Baraboo and four days in Mauston, and now, 10 days in Monroe and New Glarus.
When wind conditions are right, the flight starts early in the morning, and lasts only two to three hours.
Members of the flight crew, Canadians Don and Paula Lounsbury donate one month each year to fly their airplane over the cranes and their ultralight leaders.
Their job is to provide "top cover" for the flock in flight, and are on "bird frequency," tracking each bird and maintaining communication with the ultralight pilots and the ground crew.
Each crane wears a tracking device on its leg, and each bird has a different frequency.
If one bird falls out of formation, Don can tell where is. A bird is most usually tired if it falls out of formation, Don said.
The Lounsburys follow it and can guide the ground crew to within 100 feet of where it lands. It is then called in with a bird call, and crated.
Paula said southern Wisconsin is her favorite part of the trip. The rolling hills are "spectacularly beautiful," she said.
Don started volunteering as a member of the ground crew in 1993 when Operation: Migration was working with Canadian geese; Paula joined in 1995.
Paula said they got notified by the end of September for the trip. Along for the ride in the mobile home is their Boader Collie and cat.
"We brought the whole family," Paula said.
The 12-member crew, half Canadians and half Americans, includes crane handlers, ultralight pilots, and drivers for the motor homes, cars and equipment trailers.
The crew will be replaced with another crew in Tennessee, to finish the trip to Florida.
In past years, the Lounsburys hoped to be home by Christmas, until they "took a cue from the cranes" and bought a condo in Florida for the winter, Don said.
Now they hope to get home for a couple weeks to winterize and shut down their farm in Canada before returning to Florida by Christmas.