Unforeseen Events
Each of the 15 aircraft-led migrations was full of suspense, and each one met with unforeseen events.

Cranes sometimes had to be caught, boxed and driven to the next stop.
Heather Ray, Operation Migration

Each of the 15 aircraft-led migrations was full of suspense, and each one met with unforeseen events. The biggest foe was weather, but other misfortunes — or strokes of good luck — impacted the reintroduction effort over the years.

Weather Woes
Every year, bad (un-flyable) weather held the team captive by stranding them for long stretches of time. The number of no-fly days always far outnumbered the fly-days. In fact, the 15-year average was 75 days to complete migration of which only about 1/3 were fly days. Weather ruled migration on the ground as well as in the air. Some examples:

Class of 2001: The travel pen enclosing the birds was knocked down in a windstorm one night. Crane #3 escaped and died when he hit a power line while flying in the dark.

Class of 2006: In a major setback, all but one of the 18 newly arrived cranes were killed by a severe storm on February 2, 2007. The storm also took the lives of 20 Floridians in tornadoes. The single surviving crane, #6, died in the spring. The stunning loss of all of the year's aircraft-led cranes was a major blow to the reintroduction effort. Luckily, the summer's single wild-hatched crane, (W1-06) and one of the 2006 Direct Autumn Release cranes still survive at this writing.

Class of 2014: The migration was stalled in Wisconsin by unflyable weather for so long that all seven cranes were transported in vehicles to Tennessee, a distance of 600 miles and half the migration. This resulted in a knowledge gap in their migration route. As a result, several cranes needed help getting back to Wisconsin on their spring migration.

Class of 2015: Again, the cranes finished their migration by road instead of air. The longest of 15 aircraft-led migrations came to a strange ending on Feb. 6, 2016. Instead of being guided the final 24 miles to their new winter home by aircraft, the cranes arrived in by road crates. With no decent weather ahead and not wanting to delay the migration any longer, the team felt that driving the birds was the best decision.

Accidents and Illness
These also took their toll over the years. Two examples:

Class of 2002: Crane #10 was injured when he struck the plane’s wing during flight on the first day of migration. He was euthanized 12 days later.

Class of 2003: Crane #3 missed 186 miles of her first migration due to surgery to fix a broken knee. In good news, she was reunited with her flock and flew again on the migration’s 11th day.

Lost Birds and Runaways

Class of 2004: The team searched for more than eight hours before finding and retrieving runaway Crane #12 on Day 48 of the migration.

Class of 2007: Crane #33 went missing on the Nov. 23 flight and wasn't found until six days later. The news made the radio, TV, and newspapers as people were asked to report any sightings. 

Class of 2011: For the first time since the aircraft-led migration began, one of the birds (Crane #2) got away and joined a wild flock of Sandhill Cranes. By following them, she successfully learned the route and completed her first fall migration to Florida.

Crane Behaviors
The mix of crane personalities often added some surprises. Some were bullies, a few were weaker but tried hard, and many were sweeties.

Class of 2005: Twelve of the 20 birds didn't make the flight on Day 58. Even though it's safer to fly the birds than to drive them, all 12 were finally boxed and driven to their next stopover. Those were tough days for the hard-working crew!

Class of 2008: Crane #10 was kicked off the migration roster because his aggression was a risk to the other birds. (He migrated successfully by following older birds that led the way.)  

Class of 2008: At the end of the migration, fly-happy Crane #4 didn't want to land at the release pen that was the final stop.The pilot had to keep flying in order to coax the eager bird to a landing among some cows nine miles away. Then Crane #4 was boxed to ride on an airboat to the remote island where the release pen and his flock mates waited.

Class of 2009: It took seven days to accomplish Day 1 — getting all 20 inexperienced or stubborn chicks to Stopover #1. Then came another first when 16 of the birds flew off on the "exercise day" of Nov. 20 and didn't come back! They flew more than 15 miles before pilot Richard found and caught up to them. He finally was able to turn them on course and lead them to safe landing at the next planned stopover.

Class of 2011: For the first time, the migration was cut short and halted when the birds themselves decided that they were done migrating. By day 91 on January 29, 2012, the nine juveniles had clearly decided they were done with the pilots' flight plan. The team had no hope of getting the cranes to Florida in time to acclimate them to the wetlands of their winter home, so they called it quits. After flying 707 miles, the nine cranes were were transported about 70 miles to Wheeler NWR in Alabama. Thus they became the first aircraft-led cranes to finish their migration by road instead of wing power.

The Good News
This recap offers reminders of the challenges, heartbreaks and expenses of saving an endangered species. Over the years from 2001, all these cranes were the pioneers of a brand new flock of migratory Whooping Cranes being restored to part of the continent where they'd been gone for over a century. No matter what happened along the way, each migration gave something to celebrate. Aren't we lucky to have witnessed it!

By Jane Duden
December, 2016