Rare Whooping Cranes Calling Florida Wildlife Refuge Home

With an ultralight aircraft showing them the way, six whooping cranes landed at a wildlife refuge Monday, completing a 48-day journey researchers hope will help save the endangered birds.

The cranes ended the 1,200-mile migration shortly after dawn. A seventh bird that had trouble staying on track arrived by vehicle.

If the experiment works, the birds will return to their northern home in the spring.

“We planted the seed for what hopefully will grow and blossom into the new migratory flock of whooping cranes for Northern America,” said Heather Ray of Operation Migration, the Canadian group that staged the flight.

The 6-month-old birds left a refuge in Wisconsin on Oct. 17. But the birds were grounded for 23 days because of fog, rain, hail, snow and head winds. Group leaders had hoped the birds could fly 60 or 70 miles a day, but they had to settle for half that.

At 5 feet tall, whooping cranes--near extinction in 1941--are North America’s tallest birds and one of the world’s rarest, with only about 400 left.