Five young whooping cranes led by ultralight aircraft have landed in Walker County in the first stop of Operation Migration’s 324-mile journey through the state. 

The trek is just one portion of a 1,101 mile migration spanning seven states for the young birds making their first cross-country flight as part of Operation Migration’s annual effort to reintroduce the endangered whooping crane to eastern North America. Each year, the organization rears a new set of hatchlings and prepares them for the flight as part of the group’s unique approach to expanding the population’s numbers.

Since 2008, Alabama Power – and several other supporters of the Power of Flight program – have partnered with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to sponsor the migration.

“Alabama Power is proud to support the efforts of Operation Migration and NFWF’s Power of Flight program,” said Matt Bowden, vice president of Environmental Affairs for Alabama Power. “This partnership allows us to continue to grow whooping crane populations and make these birds a more common sight in Alabama skies.”

This year’s group of hatchlings began its first Wisconsin-to-Florida migration on Sept. 28.  Depending on weather conditions, stopovers are planned in Walker, Chilton, Lowndes and Pike counties as the birds journey across the state.

The cranes for this project are hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. They are taught to follow a specially designed ultralight aircraft before being shipped to Wisconsin 50 days after hatching. Their training continues from June through September before they follow a team of two ultralight aircraft on their first migration. 

Power of Flight, which funds projects to conserve birds in the southern United States, is one of several stewardship programs supported by Alabama Power in partnership with NFWF and other supporters. The company also works to restore the South’s longleaf pine ecosystem through the Longleaf Legacy program and supports watershed conservation through Five Star Restoration. Learn more about Alabama Power’s conservation efforts on its environmental page at www.alabamapower.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS & PRODUCERS: To make arrangements to film or photograph the whooping cranes as they fly over Alabama, please contact Liz Condie with Operation Migration at 608-542-0829 or via email at liz@operationmigration.org. Locations of flyovers can be found at www.operationmigration.org/FLYOVERS2012.pdf.