I have just retuned minutes ago from my yearly trip/visit to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin and the home of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. An international group of public and private organizations dedicated to the establishment of a migrating flock of Whooping Cranes in the eastern half of the US. If you are not familiar with the Whooping Crane Partnership, let me explain the need. In the not so distant past (1930’s) for a variety of reasons including indiscriminate hunting and habitat destruction, the Whooping Crane was nearly brought to extinction.

Obviously something needed to be done. The first efforts to restore this species started back in 1934 when the US Fish and Wildlife Service purchased some wintering grounds at Aransas, Texas and turned it into a refuge to help protect the Whooping Crane. This marked the beginning of a very long and convoluted road to the recovery of the Whooping Crane. A road in which the Whooping Crane is still traveling down I might add. There have been too many individual projects and an effort over the years to mention them all in this story but suffice to say that it’s hasn’t been an easy road.

This weekend a group of 10 enthusiastic, or should I say intrepid, birders joined me for a couple days to learn more about the plight of the Whooping Crane and to see first hand the herculean efforts that are in place to return a species as magnificent as the Whooping Crane back to the wild. We were visiting the migratory training site for young Whooping Cranes. This is the place where the cranes learn how to migrate by following ultra-light aircraft to Florida.

Our first stop on the tour was the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo Wisconsin and we learned about all 15 of the world’s cranes. This was extremely interesting and well worth the time. Then we traveled to Necedah NWR to see if we could find some wild whoopers. Within just a couple hours of arriving at the refuge we were able to find a pair of adult whoopers far off in the distance. We didn’t get good looks but it was a good start. It was the end of our first day and the group was satisfied so we headed to the hotel and to grab a bite to eat.

Very early the next morning while it was still dark the group gathered in the parking lot of the hotel and loaded up for what was hopped to be an unforgettable morning. We arrived at the refuge in the dark and met up with refuge naturalist tour guide Caity Carmody. After a brief introduction to the refuge we were off for a ride in the magic bus to tour the refuge and see if we could find some Whooping Cranes. Thick fog blanketed the refuge but that didn’t slow us down or dampen our enthusiasm.

Within minutes we saw some white figures moving silently in the fog. Standing in shallow water were two adult Whooping Cranes. Their white bodies slowly moving along in the fog, it appeared almost surreal. The group wanted to shout out with excitement but no-one said a word as to not disturb the feeding pair.

Once out of sight of the cranes the group celebrated the find. But it was short lived because we came across a second pair. This pair was not in as much fog and allowed us some great looks and even a few pictures. We couldn’t believe our luck. How wonderful it was to see these birds up close. Later, when the fog burned off, we headed over to watch the training flight of the young Whooping Cranes class of 2009. This year there are 21 young cranes learning to follow an ultra-light aircraft in order to migrate south for the winter. These birds will join the Whooping Cranes that gone through the same training in the past years.

Upon getting into position to watch the training session we could hear the ultra-light off in the distance getting closer. It flew by and then landed off in the distance. Shortly after it took off again, this time it had 8 young cranes following close behind. After some circling and gaining altitude, the small yellow aircraft followed by 6 young cranes flew right past our group. It was a glorious sight. Everyone was elated at this opportunity to witness what great effort goes into training these young birds.

Our refuge guide Caity was there to answer all our questions about the Whooping Crane project. After a second eye level fly-by with a second group of young cranes the group packed up and headed out for breakfast and eventually headed for home. It’s wonderful to know that such dedicated people like the refuge staff and all the people associated with flying the ultra-lights are working 7 days a week, far away from their homes, under adverse conditions to insure the Whooping Crane will survive for future generation to see. Until next time…