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Outdoors: Refuge Friends Walk Planned for May 4
May 3rd, 2009

Outdoors: Red Knots Return to Florida
May 2nd, 2009

Outdoors: Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge Open House Saturday
March 5th, 2009

Outdoors: FWC Plans Two Library Presentations
February 25th, 2009

Outdoors: FWC Announces January Programs
January 10th, 2009

Outdoors: Nature Walks in the Wild
November 28th, 2008

Outdoors: October Tides
October 2nd, 2008

Outdoors: Birding Event This Weekend
October 1st, 2008

Outdoors: "Kids With Cameras" Daycamp Planned
July 7th, 2008

Outdoors: Seahorse Key and Lighthouse Open Saturday
July 1st, 2008

Outdoors: Kids` Fishing and Tortoises Highlighted Saturday
April 14th, 2008

Outdoors: Celebrate Florida Archaeology Month
March 10th, 2008

Outdoors: Cedar Key Star Party
February 4th, 2008

Outdoors: Celebrate Greenways
October 25th, 2007

Outdoors: Swallowtail Kites Topic of FAVOR Speaker
March 12th, 2007

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Whooping Crane Chicks in Training

Whooping Crane Chicks in Training

Jim Hoy

Operation Migration is carefully raising its 2011 crop of Whooping Crane chicks at its Wisconsin training site. The "class of 2011" is small, just ten birds. Eggs from captive parents were hatched in Maryland, a cooperative effort that includes U.S. and Canadian wildlife biologists and a small army of volunteer crane enthusiasts.
What is now a seventeen year project, Operation Migration, a non-profit organization, uses costumes and puppets to raise the chicks with a minimum of human contact. As the chicks near fledging they are trained to follow an ultra-light plane up and down a runway. Eventually the flock takes training flights. Well trained, in early fall the flock takes local flights and then the supervised trip to safe overwintering sites in Florida.
Whooping Cranes are an endangered species that has come back from the edge of extinction. The entire population was fifteen birds in the 1940`s. Operation Migration`s goal is to establish a population that summers and breeds in Wisconsin and winters in Florida. That population will serve as insurance against a catastrophe striking the population that summers and breeds in Canada and winters on the Texas Gulf Coast. Cedar Key News reports the training and migration of the eastern flock each year.
Endangered species can be saved from extinction. Sometimes a simple solution such as restricting the use of DDT saves endangered species such as Bald Eagles, Osprey and Brown Pelicans. Deer, cougars and alligators have recovered following legislative action.
Whooping Cranes and the California Condor are two species that have needed heroic help to counter habitat loss and human predation. Captive breeding flocks and training programs that recognize the need to preserve the natural fear of humans are in place. These programs, staffed by government biologists and dedicated volunteers go forward, aided by contributions from bird lovers from all over the North American continent. For more information please go to Operation Migration`s website.

www.operationmigration.org

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