When the birds are on the ground, they are kept in a big pen for their protection. To see them in the pen, click pen and cranes. For a better look at the cranes, click a closer view of cranes in pen.

These birds have a six to seven-foot wingspan. To see some of the cranes airborne and leaving Shelby County on Sunday morning, November 20, click this file Whooping Cranes following ultra-light, In Shelby Skies, and Cranes Aloft.

To see the first nine cranes and one ultra-light leaving Shelby County, click Good Luck, and Godspeed!

On Thursday, November 17th, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership ("WCEP") landed 19 whooping cranes in Shelby County. WCEP is attempting to reintroduce cranes into the eastern United States and is attempting to teach captive breeding hatchings to learn the migratory ways of past flocks that flew from the Great Lakes to Florida and back each year. These cranes are an endangered species. To learn more about these efforts, see this link http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.

For a description of the flight through Shelby County by two of the pilots of the four ultra-lights, click http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html.

For an article on teaching cranes to fly and migrate, click http://www.birdsandblooms.com/dycon.asp?parent=36504&RefURL=&KeyCode=&tdate=&PMCode=&OrgURL=. For more photos, see the October 2005 issue of Birds and Blooms magazine.