October 23, 2006—Shhh. No talking.

That's just one of the rules for conservationists from Operation Migration, who are trying to raise whooping cranes without having them imprint on humans.

Chicks never see a human face or hear a human voice—handlers disguise their features in full body costumes, complete with recorders playing bird noises and a crane-head puppet. The highlight of the effort is an annual migration from Wisconsin to Florida guided by ultralight planes, which began this year on October 5.

Join Boyd Matson, the first journalist ever to take to the air with Operation Migration, and learn how scientists hatched the strange plan that has brought these giant birds back from the brink of extinction.