Teaching Birds to Fly

What goes around comes around. We learned flight from the birds, and now several endangered species of birds need to learn from pilots how to migrate south if they are to survive. Operation Migration's Bill Lishman explained how he's teaching them to a crowd filled with fellow ultralight pilots at EAA's Theatre in the Woods Saturday night. AVweb's Joe Godfrey was there, and reports on the folks behind the movie "Fly Away Home."

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"Sometimeswe forget that we share the air with animals that have been flying for millionsof years, and there’s still a lot we can learn from them," says BillLishman, chairman and CEO of Operation Migration. Lishman’s autobiography, FatherGoose, inspired the 1995 film Fly Away Home starring Jeff Daniels,Anna Paquin and Dana Delaney. The film tells the story of Lishman’s successfulefforts to lead flocks of geese on their flight south by acting as a surrogateparent. Working with naturalist William Carrick, Lishman led the birds aroundOntario, teaching them a safe migration route. Lishman came to AirVenture ’99 toexplain the project, share his experiences, and raise funds for future work.

In 1988, Lishman became the first man to fly in formation with a flock ofbirds, imprinting them to an Easy Riser ultralight that he built. Larry Maurodesigned the trike in the mid-’70s, probably never expecting it to dress like agoose. After some experimentation, the team found that Mauro’s design had asimilar flight envelope to the whooping crane. Lishman and his partner, JoeDuff, brought three airplanes to Oshkosh to display outside the exhibitionhalls, including their original Easy Riser. Before founding Operation Migration,Lishman was a sculptor and Duff was one of Canada’s leading commercialphotographers. Joining Lishman and Duff at Oshkosh is teammate Deke Clark, aformer F-86 pilot and UAL 777 captain. Clark thinks that trikes are the safestairplanes he has ever flown.

The goal of theproject is to teach endangered birds the migration patterns necessary forsurvival. Geese are not endangered, but Lishman knew that he would never getsupport for his work unless he established a track record with non-endangeredbirds. Based on their success with Canada geese, in 1997 they flew a flock ofseven sandhill cranes from Ontario to Virginia. The cranes spent the winterthere under supervision and were given freedom to fly in late February. In lateMarch Kate Sutherland, the biologist who tended them during the winter, reportedthat they had not returned yet from their daily foraging trip. Two days laterthe birds were back in Ontario, sharing recess with school children. Over thenext couple of weeks the birds relocated to a site about 30 miles away fromtheir original fledgling grounds.

Operation Migration is now turning its attention to the only remaining flockof whooping cranes. They plan to establish a second flock with its own uniquemigratory route. The north site, which will be the nesting site, will be in oneof three sites in Wisconsin. When Lishman and Duff leave Oshkosh, they’ll headsouth — minus the birds — to scout a migratory route to the winter site inFlorida. Next year they’ll fly the route with sandhill cranes, and if that tripis successful they’ll take whooping cranes in 2001. Operation Migration isprivately funded with small donations, but Lishman says that fundraising takestime away from working with the birds and he’s looking for a corporate sponsor.

Lishman spent Saturday night talking to the crowd in the Theatre in the Woodsabout what it’s like to fly with the birds. "The birds really know how toenjoy the beauty of the earth. They know instinctively to fly in the calm air ofthe morning and the evening. We fly at about 500 agl, about 30 knots, where youcan really see things." Once the flock is airborne, it doesn’t matter ifthe trike is in the lead. Lishman has flown in front, behind and in the middleof the birds. "It’s cool to slow down," Lishman said, "and letthem pass you. I call it ‘IFR in geese’."

He explainedthe aerodynamics of the V pattern. "The hardiest bird takes the lead at thepoint. With each downbeat of his wings, the lead bird creates a wingtip vortex.The trailing birds sense this nuance in the air and surf on it, which makestheir job of flying slightly easier. This lets a group of birds of differingabilities fly at a constant speed with a common endurance. The wave generated bythe lead bird forms a ‘V’ and results in the typical chevron formation that wesee overhead." Lishman also offered a simpler explanation for the V."We found out as soon as we lined up behind the birds. They relievethemselves in the air, so we think the V pattern is just plain commonsense."

Lishman went quietly about his work until ABC’s 20/20 aired onThanksgiving Day in 1993. Millions of people saw the show, including some folksat Columbia Pictures. Once they bought the story they took some liberty with theplot. Lishman says Hollywood made three basic changes to the story. In truth,Lishman’s wife didn’t get killed, his 13-year-old daughter didn’t fly the secondairplane (Joe Duff did), and their airplane wasn’t shaped like a bird. "Thebirds didn’t seem to care if the airplane looked like a bird," he said.Columbia promised a share of the profits to Operation Migration, but Hollywood’screative accounting procedures show Fly Away Home losing $37 million."I guess we owe them now," Lishman says.

The first stepin working with the birds is to collect eggs. The eggs are placed in incubatorsand turned three times a day to simulate what real mama birds do. The imprintingprocess begins when the handlers play a recording of the aircraft engine andtalk to the eggs as they turn them. The first thing the hatchlings see are thehandlers, dressed in feathered costumes made out of pillowcases. The young birdsstay under heat lamps until they are strong enough to start exercising, then ahandler leads them, carrying a small replica of the ultralight aircraft. Againthe tape-recorded engine sounds are played to them. When birds are imprinted inthis manner they easily transition to the real aircraft when it is introduced.

As the birds grow and develop feathers, they follow the handler and aircraftup and down the runway, which Duff calls "taxi tests." When thehandler feels they’re ready for their first flight, the birds follow theultralight as it lifts into the air. If the weather permits, the birds fly twicea day to build their strength and endurance for the fall migration.

The two Canadians were among friends on Saturday night. EAA’s Theatre in theWoods is just a short walk from the ultralight camp at Wittman Field. Lishmansays, "We started as artists, and now we’ve become scientists." He’shappy that their work has inspired films, photography and other migratory birdprojects around the world. Joe Duff adds, "We’re aviators. We have thechance to return the favor to those who taught us flight."


Operation Migration’s excellent web site gives you more information on history, upcoming projects, and how you can adopt a crane.

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