The largest waterfowl in North America, trumpeter swans historically were taught to migrate by their parents. After trumpeter swans east of the Mississippi River were hunted out of existence, no swans were left to teach the migration routes to a small group of swans recently reintroduced to western New York. Project UltraSwan describes how the Trumpeter Swan Migration Project trained the young trumpeters to migrate by flying behind a human-piloted ultralight aircraft. The author clearly describes the laborious process, from the imprinting of the cygnets, to accustoming them to the sound of the aircraft motor and teaching them to fly behind the ultralight, to developing the stamina they will need for migration. Despite setbacks, the passion and enthusiasm of those involved in the project remains strong. Many clear color photographs show the swans at all steps of training and migration. Appendices provide information about the three kinds of North American swans, including where to see them and how to tell them apart. (Ages 7-10)

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.