Weather Grounds Whooping Crane Migration in Tennessee

An ultra light pilot guides the flock of whooping cranes south. (credit: Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership)

Rainy weather has stalled a flock of 20 whooping cranes in Tennessee. The endangered birds are on their first migration south for the winter. An ultra-light aircraft leads the way from Wisconsin to Florida.

A dozen biologists and crew members are waiting out the rain with the birds northeast of Jackson in Carroll County. Liz Condie of Operation Migration says it’s not unusual for weather to get in the way.

“30% of the time we’re able to fly, and the other 70% of the time we’re on this migration we’re stuck on the ground, either waiting for favorable winds or for the rain to let up.”

It takes roughly 25 flying days to make the trip, but last year the human-led migration lasted three months because of unfavorable weather conditions.

The Whooping Crane Recovery Team is working to bring the species back from the brink of extinction. These 20 juveniles were hatched in captivity. The project is halfway to its goal of reintroducing 150 individual cranes into the wild.

The pilots wear white suits and masks. Condie says they remain silent so the birds don’t get accustomed to humans.

“On one hand, they wear a mechanical crane puppet that looks like an adult crane head, and that’s what the birds focus on when the costumes are around them.”

As the flock remains grounded, Condie says the human crew limits contact with the birds who are caged in an open field. In the spring, they will make the return migration trip north unaided.

Some of the birds reintroduced by the Whooping Crane Recovery Team have wintered in the wetlands of Bells Bend, just outside Nashville. Others spend the winter in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.