Reintroduction

Reintroduction>Hang-glider Migration

In the United States, human-led migrations (i.e. using ultralight planes) with Sandhill and Whooping Cranes in North America have resulted in over 80% of the birds that were led south returning to their release area the following spring.

Costume-reared Sandhill and Whooping Cranes have been trained to follow a slow-flying ultra-light aircraft piloted by a crane-costumed human. The cranes are flown in wide circles around the vicinity of the release area for several weeks before migrating in a step-by-step flight south across the United States. The cranes spend the winter in a protected and isolated area where there is no contact with non-costumed humans. In late winter / early spring they migrate back to the vicinity of the release areas in the north. Their behaviour is similar to that of the wild cranes. After three successful years of assisted one-way migration south along the route, there is considerable hope that this method will become the standard applied method to reintroduce birds in flyways where they have become extinct.

Russian scientists have been meeting with North American researchers to explore the possible application of these techniques to Siberian Crane releases. This research is more feasible along the entire migration route of the Western Population, whereas it has been impossible to conduct such research using the Central Population due to the situation in Afghanistan in recent years

After the migration corridor of the Central Population of Siberian Cranes is safe for cranes, an adaptation of several human-led migration techniques (e.g. training to follow both boats and ultra-lights, combined with trucking in boxes) can be applied to restore the Central Population of Siberian Cranes. Throughout the autumn migration and on the wintering grounds at KNP, India, the released birds would be provided with complete protection and an abundance of food. On their spring migration, they would be on their own to face the gauntlet of dangers when passing over the Hindu Kush Mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the central Asian plains of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. To reduce the risk factor from hunters along the identified migration path, an intensive education and awareness campaign is needed in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Since ultra-lights are prone to be grounded in bad weather, and require frequent refueling, present plans for the assisted migration include hang-gliders. Experiments with Siberian Cranes in Russia and with Sandhill Cranes in California with modified hand-gliders show that considerable training of both birds and pilots is required before the arduous Central Population route can be undertaken. Present plans include an experimental assisted migration to be undertaken along the shorter western population route from Russia to Iran.

In 2002, the “Flight of Hope” ultra-light project was initiated in Russia. In the preliminary phase of this project, a hang-glider technique was used to try to teach the migration route to six Siberian Cranes. It was shown that the Siberian Cranes could be trained to follow a hang-glider to energetically soar in thermals similar to wild migrating cranes. As a result of this experiment, four Siberian Cranes joined the fall migration of Eurasian Cranes.Read more>>