Members of Operation Migration, a non-profit organization founded in 1994, organized a December 2006 trip for the 18 birds that was led by an ultra-light airplane. Landing at the Chassahowitzha National Wildlife Refuge, which is located near the town of Crystal River, Florida, the birds were to be a second migratory group.

The first migratory group of Whooping cranes—initiated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1975—contains between 175 an 200 members that migrate between Canada (their nesting area is the Wood Buffalo National Park and surrounding area) and the Texas Gulf Coast (around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and its surrounding Coastal Bend area). A second group—composed of 53 Whooping cranes (as of December 2006) in Florida—is currently non-migratory. It was established by the U.S. and Canadian Whooping Crane Recovery Team in 1993.

The Whooping crane (Grus Americana) is an endangered species of crane. An adult Whooping crane has a height of between 1.1 to 1.3 meters (3.6 to 4.3 feet) and a wingspan of about 2.3 meters (7.5 feet). An adult male weighs about 7.5 kilograms (16.5 pounds), while an adult female weighs approximately 6.5 kilograms (14.3 pounds). Named for its ‘whooping’ (trumpet-like) sound, the adult Whooping crane is white in body except for black wing tips, with a red crown on its forehead and cheeks and a long, dark, pointed bill. Young Whooping cranes look like adults except with brown streaks.

The Whooping crane is on the U.S. Endangered Species list in twelve western states because of destruction of its natural habitat and over hunting. At the height of its habitat, they ranged throughout the Midwestern part of North America. At its lowest, fewer than 20 birds were alive in the late-1930s and early 1940s. At the beginning of 2007, it is estimated that over 350 Whooping cranes live in the wild and 145 live in captivity.

The Home Web page for Operation Migration is located at: http://www.operationmigration.org/.

Information about the Whooping crane can be found at: (National Wildlife Federation) http://www.nwf.org/whoopingcrane/ and (Whooping Crane Conservation Association) http://www.whoopingcrane.com/.

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