Project Ultraswan

It has been nearly 200 years since hunters killed the last of the trumpeter swans living in the eastern part of North America. Now that the birds are protected by law, scientists hope to restore them to their former range. But unlike birds who have their migration maps built in, trumpeters must learn the routes from their parents. So scientists in the Trumpeter Swan Migration Project are taking on the role of parent swans, teaching cygnets to follow ultralight aircraft in an effort to reintroduce a migrating population to the Atlantic coast.     This fascinating fieldwork includes transportation of ten-day-old cygnets from Alaska to the training site in New York State, the design of a special uniform to prevent the baby swans from recognizing their caretakers as human, and the process of training the birds to follow the ultralight—including the heartbreak of setbacks and the exhilaration of successes.