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Operation Migration to guide birds over Albany

• Endangered whooping crans led by ultralight aircraft are expected to pass over metro Albany this week.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — A group of young whooping cranes making their first southern migration will soon take to the skies over Dougherty or nearby counties, officials with Operation Migration said Monday.

After resting their wings in Marion County near Buena Vista, the flock of 17 birds will begin the next leg of a seven-state journey from Wisconsin to south Florida this week, said Brook Pennypacker, a pilot with Operation Migration.

The nonprofit organization guides groups of young cranes on their first southern migration using ultralight aircraft, three-wheeled crafts with propeller guards to protect the birds, Pennypacker told a group of young Albany students Monday.

High overhead, a Cessna aircraft monitors the birds’ progress using tracking antennas. Each bird wears a tracking device on its legs.

On the ground, crew member Beverly Paulman drives a recreational vehicle where the nine-member crew lives when the birds stop for a landing, Paulman said.

The RV tows an open enclosure where the birds reside during stops, often in a farmer’s field or on a wildlife preserve, she said.

Operation Migration is on Day 90 of the journey, but the birds can make the return trip to Wisconsin in only six days, she said.

“Once we teach them to get down, they can get back on their own,” Paulman said.

Taking off in the early morning when the air is cool, the ultralights and birds create a vortex of air that enables them to travel great distances, Pennypacker said.

Weather, including heavy fog and rain, has slowed the flock’s migration through Georgia this year. In its seventh year leading the birds, Operation Migration has previously touched down in Terrell and Colquitt counties.

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