Leaving Mom & Dad
Whooping crane parents typically fly north to the nesting grounds with their young in the spring; however, it's not unheard of for parents to separate from their young on the wintering grounds, or along the migration route as they return north. Even if early separation occurs, the juveniles are able to find their way back to the summer breeding grounds because the parents showed their young the migration route the previous fall.

As the first solo migration of the last class of ultralight-led "babies'" begins, Operation Migration's pilot Joe Duff reminds us: "After spending so much time controlling every aspect of their experience and acting as stand-in parents, it's hard to step back and let our birds live as wild creatures. We have to remember that cranes have been doing this for millions of years. For them to live on their own, completely independent from us, is as natural as nature itself. Despite how nervous it makes us we must realize that they are safer out on their own than they are in the pen under our care."

Courtesy of Klaus Nigge/WCEP