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aie i Bee ian een di bl 0 lL 4- PORT PERRY STAR - Wednesday, August 6, 1997 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Operation By Bill Lishman Special to the Star Scugog residents are used to seeing all manner of birds, including the Blue Heron and Purple Martin. Early risers have often heard the buzz of an ultra- light aircraft, and looked up to see a flock of Geese close behind. This tradition started in the 80s when I first led a group of imprinted geese into the air, and in 1993 Operation Migration (OM) led its first flock south. In 1995 we saw the filming of Fly Away Home and Ultra-Geese were everywhere; led by air- craft and followed by helicopters, they became a common sight. The Scugog skies have been strangely quiet lately, but that is about to change as OM prepares to introduce a new species of flying partner. The major focus of OM over the next few years, under guidance from The Whooping Crane Recovery Team, will be to establish a second flock of migratory Whooping Cranes as insurance for the tenuous existence of the remaining sin- gle migratory flock. Prior to attempting a Whooping Crane migration, The Recovery Team identified the need for a preliminary experiment with Sandbill Cranes. While OM has proven that Canada Geese will return to their natal area after being shown a migration route, (some have even returned south in subsequent years), the geese were always in the proximity of their own species and may have been influenced to return north by the wild geese. This was the feeling of the majori- ty of the Recovery Team when I and Joseph Duff met with them in February of this year. The initial concept for 1997 was for OM to lead a flock of Sandhill Cranes from Midwest Canada to a proposed win- tering site on the gulf coast of Florida or Louisiana. This would have paved the way for our future Whooping Crane introduction. But the idea was seen as premature for two reasons: First, Sandhill Cranes are already indigenous to that flyway and, as with the geese, their return migration might be initiated by wild Migration takes to skies again NEARER N Na RN N Bill Lishman and Joe Duff, in heavy disguises, greet A 7 & a Wi -- -- -- Wi» mmm Migration's attempt to teach them migratory behavior. Sandhill Cranes upon their arrival in Scugog last week. The goal is to eventually work with endangered The birds will fly with ultralight planes during Operation Whooping Cranes. cranes. Secondly, there is not enough data available to choose a summer nest- ing location or a wintering site for Whoopers. Operation Migration agreed to launch an interim experiment, which would sim- ulate what would happen if Whooping Cranes were introduced into an area where no other Whooping Cranes exist- ed. The result is a plan to lead a flock of Sandhill Cranes from Ontario to Virginia, essentially duplicating our prior migration experiments with geese. Sandhills are not indigenous to this a ¥ & 3 t {a NE . & a ! EE LEA ON iy } A w hte a Fy » N RS N 7 | Wh % Young Sandhill Cranes warily check out their surroundings after being released on Port Perry-area farm Thursday. They were brought into the coun- try from Maryland, and will soon be winging south with Operation Migration. The current experiment builds upon work done earlier with Canada Geese. migration flyway, so this will be a test to see just how much input is needed to ini- tiate the migration tradition. The first big step was getting agree- ment on the details of how the experi- ment was to proceed, and then approval from all the various organizations that have a stake in these matters. It seems that each separate department of gov- ernment 1s reluctant to sanction a pri- vately run experiment without the approval of the others first. The results were many hesitant letters of conditional approval. It took constant communication, but gradually, like eggs being painfully laid, the approvals dropped into the OM nest and the required clutch of paper is com- plete. Now, the easy part of flying the birds may begin. Just weeks ago, the cranes were hatching. Looking much like Jim Henson creations, they first had to be taught to eat by their surrogate puppet mother while the sounds of Joe and me, doing our best imitations of a mother crane purrs, were played to them on tape. In the background a second tape loop of the aircraft engine droned away. Why tape? Because OM has been lucky enough to garner the assistance of Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, a 13,000 acre U.S. govern- ment facility that specializes in the sav- ing of critically endangered species of birds. The wildlife specialists at Patuxent, fortunately, took care of the initial hatching and imprinting of the . cranes. Joe and I worked with the birds until the middle of July, spending one week on and one week off at the center. Last week they were be shipped to the new crane flight academy, just east of . Port Perry. This new facility is little more than a field, but it is on the edge of a . large marsh; perfect crane habitat. Our plan is to follow the protocol of costume rearing, which means dressing as much like a crane as humanly possible so the birds do-not become imprinted on humans. This technique has been devel- oped over the past few years and allows the birds to become truly wild once they are released. These cranes will never see a human that is not in crane cos- tume...we hope. By mid-August, this year's flock of cranes should be seen winging behind our aircraft in the skies over Scugog. By late September or early October, we will be on a southerly migration with them. We will be releasing periodic updates of the experiment as it progresses. Contrary to popular belief, OM did not make millions from the movie Fly Away Home. It did not do as well in the box office as hoped. One of the things desper- ately needed is a trailer to house the biol- ogist at our crane flight academy. If any- one has a trailer they are not using, OM would appreciate the loan of it for about six months. The trailer will be returned in better condition than when it was bor- rowed, and the donor will receive a char- itable donation receipt. If you can help please contact us at 1- 800-675-2618, or check our Operation Migration's website at http:/father- goose.durham.net for more information. : Joe Duff is looking for Crane hat Mr. Duff is seek- ers to assist in the migration experi- nducted by Bill 0 horse back riding or rop- 'Migration team here in Scugog are needed to volunteer 3 time io help fod Ra g Crane re-establi e chance to partici- nd breaking wildlife sted should con- -986-4384. -est; shed over IIIS Twa e>