Whooping crane migration grounded in regulatory flap

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A flock of rare whooping cranes on its inaugural winter migration to Florida are grounded in Alabama while a government agency decides whether a plane guiding them will be allowed to proceed.

The whooping cranes, part of North America's tallest flying bird species, have been in pens in Alabama since last month as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) looks into whether the 1,285-mile flight violates regulations.

The pilots of the ultralight plane guiding the flock from Wisconsin to two Florida refuges are being paid by a conservation group, Operation Migration. FAA rules say that only pilots with commercial licenses can fly for hire.

David Sakrison, an Operation Migration director in Ripon, Wisconsin, said the group was working on contingency plans if no waiver was granted.

"We're optimistic that this waiver will come through but again we're dealing with a federal agency and we just have to wait and see," he said on Saturday.

The Operation Migration pilots are licensed to fly lightweight sport aircraft, which have a rear-facing propeller. FAA rules forbid sport aircraft from being flown to benefit a charity or business, a regulation aimed at barring the charities or businesses from giving rides in the light craft.

Lynn Lundsford, an FAA spokesman, said in an email that the agency was weighing Operation Migration's request for a waiver.

Operation Migration is part of a public-private U.S.-Canadian partnership aimed at re-establishing migrating flocks of whooping cranes. The birds were nearly wiped out, falling to only 15 in 1941, Sakrison said.

FLYING HOME

One flight corridor for whooping cranes runs from western Canada to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The current flight is part of an effort that started in 2001 to restart an eastern U.S. flyway from Wisconsin to Florida.

"The goal is to create a new wild flock and this is their historical range," Sakrison said.

The cranes are bred and hatched at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, then transferred to a refuge in Wisconsin.

The birds are reared by conservationists in bird suits that conceal their human features. They become conditioned to follow the suited handlers and a plane engine.

On the migratory route, the cranes follow the small plane flown by a pilot in a bird costume. The flock flies from 25 to 50 miles a day. Once the route is flown the birds can make the return flight on their own.

They were grounded about 500 miles from their goal on December 21 following an outside complaint, Sakrison said.

The group left Wisconsin with 10 birds. One was lost en route but has been returned to Wisconsin, he said.

About 90 cranes have been established on the eastern route since 2001. They have started to reproduce in the wild in a slow expansion, with sexual maturity reached at six or seven years.

The whooping crane in North America's tallest bird, standing more than five feet high as adults, and wingspan can reach almost eight feet. They have white bodies with a red crown and are named for their whooping sound.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Greg McCune)

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