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Article: Bye-bye birdies! Pilots show baby whooping cranes how to migrate.
- Article from:
- WR News, Senior Edition (including Science Spin)
- Article date:
- April 10, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
High in the sky, a flock of birds fly past. The 5-foot-tall creatures are whooping cranes, the tallest birds in North America.
The wild animals appear to be following much larger birds. But those aren't birds at all. They are three-wheeled aircraft called trikes, and the pilots flying them are wearing white helmets and white gowns.
That setup might sound like a bird-brained idea, but it's not. The pilots are from an organization called Operation Migration. They are helping the whooping cranes learn to migrate, or move from one area to another when the seasons change.
The cranes are endangered. In 1941, the ...