National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Rare Cranes Led on Migration Killed in Florida Storms, Only 1 Survives


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Whooping cranes follow an ultralight aircraft out of a Wisconsin wildlife refuge in October 2001. A team of government and private agencies has been using ultralight aircraft for several years to teach juvenile whoopers how to reach their wintering grounds in Florida.

Last weekend, storms in Florida killed all but 1 of the 18 endangered cranes that made this year's plane-led migration.

Photograph by Jennifer L. Rabuck, Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, courtesy USFWS