Horicon Birds home page Contact HoriconBirds.com Are you a lost birdie? Horicon Marsh information Bird watchers report it! Passenger pigeon sightings Where can I find some of these prints locally?: Sponsors VeggieCooking.com The classic vegan cookbook by Pam Rotella! Operation Migration Begins The 2015 Guided Whooping Crane Migration by Pam Rotella 30 September 2015 HoriconBirds.com Tweet Follow @PamRotella ST. MARIE, WISCONSIN - Operation Migration began the 2015 guided whooping crane migration this morning, leading six young whooping cranes from White River Marsh to their first migration stop a few miles away. The cranes will learn a migration route to Florida by following ultra-light aircraft. Operation Migration co-founder Joe Duff begins the 2015 guided whooping crane migration at White River Marsh with six whooping crane colts. Photo by Pam Rotella Whooping cranes are among the most endangered species in North America. The ultra-light method is one of several reintroduction programs that attempts to establish alternative flocks to the one wild flock that migrates between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The whooping crane reintroduction program at Horicon Marsh uses the "direct autumn release" or DAR method, which does not provide any migration guidance in the autumn. Rather, the Horicon whooping crane colts are released into the marsh and left to find their way south by following older cranes, usually sandhills. Other reintroduction programs include the non-migratory flock in Louisiana and the parent-reared program at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Reintroduction programs are coordinated by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, a group that includes Operation Migration and the International Crane Foundation. All original content including photographs © 2015 by Pam Rotella.