Cranes wing it south with ultralight human help

An ultralight plane guides the sandhill cranes south

CARROLLTON, Georgia (CNN) -- It's a scene as old as nature itself -- a flock of sandhill cranes migrating south for the winter. But look again to see something unusual. This particular flight has a human touch.

The dozen Florida-bound birds -- hatched and raised at a research facility away from their mothers -- are following a large, white-winged guide with a motor.

It's their surrogate mother, an ultralight plane from "Operation Migration," a project to save endangered birds by teaching them new, less threatening migration routes.

VIDEO Visit the birds at a stopover in Georgia, with CNN's Brian Cabell Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

If this all seems similar to the 1996 movie "Fly Away Home," it is. The movie was inspired by Operation Migration, which is now in the midst of its most ambitious project.

This latest human-assisted migration using sandhill cranes is a dress rehearsal for next year when the group hopes to help endangered whooping cranes make the same southern journey.

Plane-guided whooping cranes 'Fly Away Home'
October 22, 1997

Operation Migration
  •  Migratory Map

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