As a youngster, Bill Lishman, affectionately known as "Father Goose" since the release of the motion picture Fly Away Home, remembers his mother telling him that whooping cranes and trumpeter swans were becoming nearly extinct because of human interference. That story made a significant impression on the young lad’s mind.

Fourteen years ago, Bill decided he’d like to do something to help reverse the extinction of one or both of these species of birds. Since then, Bill and his group of dedicated followers known as Operation Migration have been developing a protocol to use ultralight-type aircraft to train various species of birds to fly new migratory routes.

Beginning with Canada geese and continuing last year with sandhill cranes, Bill, Joe, and Deke proved it was possible. Even more importantly, they were able to enlist the support of a number of state and national governmental agencies to create the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership program. That partnership includes Operation Migration, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the International Crane Foundation (ICF), the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and natural resource and fish and wildlife agencies in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

Like last year, the goal of the Operation Migration team, in coordination with the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, is to lead the cranes from the Necedah (Wisconsin) National Wildlife Refuge to the Chassahowitzka (Florida) National Wildlife Refuge, north of Tampa, a distance of about 1,250 miles. Approximately 30 stops will be made throughout the journey.

Also like last year, Bill will fly his two-place Rotax 582-powered Cosmos trike along with Joe and Deke, who pilot single-place 503-powered units, providing chase for any bird that might drop out of formation and flying scout for the flights as they approach their landing site for the day. The flight team will also be accompanied by a "top cover" aircraft, a Cessna 182 piloted by Don and Paula Lounsbury, and a ground crew led by Richard Van Heuvelen. In addition, USGS team member Dan Sprague will tow the "away pen" trailer that will house the birds while they’re not in flight. Dan has been with the whooping crane chicks since before they hatched and had the initial responsibility of conducting their early training.

From left, Deke Clark, Joe Duff and Father Goose Bill Lishman, taken at AirVenture Oshkosh 1999 when they announced plans for Operation Migration.

The hope of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership is that next spring these whooping cranes will retrace their learned migratory route, returning to the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, just as the sandhill cranes that were led to Florida last fall did this past spring. If that happens, it would be the start of establishing a second migrating flock of whooping cranes.

Currently, only 400 whooping cranes are in existence in the world, including the only migrating flock that travels between Wood Buffalo Park in northern Alberta, Canada, and Port Aransas, Texas. To remove the whooping crane from the endangered species list, three separate migratory flocks of at least 25 birds each must be established. That could take 20 years, but Bill, Joe, and Deke are planning to see the project through!

You can learn more about the whooping crane project and follow the migration’s progress by visiting two websites, www.bringbackthecranes.org or www.operationmigration.org.Once the flight has begun, daily updates will be provided on those sites.