Anderson Joshua@anderson_joshua

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Operation Migration whooping cranes

Operation Migration is the piece of this that sticks with me. Young whooping cranes were taught a route between Wisconsin and Florida, and the teachers were pilots in ultralight aircraft flying right there beside them. Picture that for a second: birds that had never made the trip before, following a small plane instead of an older flock. It worked because the cranes were guided along paths none of them had flown. The other half of the story is quieter and maybe stranger. Some conservation workers raised the chicks themselves while dressed in crane-like costumes, and the reason was practical. If the birds got comfortable with ordinary human contact, the whole effort would be compromised, so the people behind it made sure the cranes saw as little of us as possible. Taken together, the planes and the outfits say something about the effort people were willing to put in for a species on the edge of disappearing. You don't dress up as a crane or fly a hang glider unless you've decided the birds are worth the trouble.

2h

Anderson Joshua@anderson_joshua

Follow

Operation Migration whooping cranes

Operation Migration is the piece of this that sticks with me. Young whooping cranes were taught a route between Wisconsin and Florida, and the teachers were pilots in ultralight aircraft flying right there beside them. Picture that for a second: birds that had never made the trip before, following a small plane instead of an older flock. It worked because the cranes were guided along paths none of them had flown. The other half of the story is quieter and maybe stranger. Some conservation workers raised the chicks themselves while dressed in crane-like costumes, and the reason was practical. If the birds got comfortable with ordinary human contact, the whole effort would be compromised, so the people behind it made sure the cranes saw as little of us as possible. Taken together, the planes and the outfits say something about the effort people were willing to put in for a species on the edge of disappearing. You don't dress up as a crane or fly a hang glider unless you've decided the birds are worth the trouble.

2h