The Ultra Geese (1998)

Canadian artist Bill Lishman developed a method to imprint newly hatched geese, swans and cranes to fly with ultralight airplanes. The goal of these efforts is to teach the birds migratory routes. It is hoped that, in this way, additional routes may be established for vulnerable populations. For instance, trumpeter swans and whooping cranes have just one migratory population left. After successfully imprinting a flock of Canada geese, Lishman starts a new batch of geese and a batch of swans to actually fly on a migration route. The swans are confiscated by wildlife authorities. The geese are eventually cleared to fly from Ontario, over the Great Lakes, to a final landing spot in Airlie Center, Virginia. Another flock of geese was flown even further from Ontario to South Carolina. Lishman adopted eight sandhill cranes in spring 1995. Each had to be exercised, separately, for three hours daily, by a person wearing a crane puppet. Unlike the geese, if the cranes imprinted on a human, they would attack their own kind.