The charity behind the popular Hollywood film Fly Away Home is giving birdwatchers and nature lovers an opportunity to win a special, two-week vacation in Costa Rica.

Operation Migration is conducting a unique project to help the endangered North American whooping crane a safe migration flight from their summer home in Wisconsin to their wintering grounds in Florida. That’s a distance of 1,200 miles across seven state jurisdictions of the U.S.

The flock of young whooping cranes will be escorted by humans, just like in the film Fly Away Home, and those who sponsor this flight are eligible to be drawn for a Thank You Gift of a two week stay at Mot Mot Manor in fabulous Costa Rica!

Mot Mot Manor is located on the Nicoyan Peninsula in the beautiful gated community of Roma del Mar. The closest airport is Daniel Oduber Quiros International (LIR) in Liberia. This incredible gift was donated for the 2015 MileMaker campaign by a generous supporter who wishes to remain anonymous. The Manor is named after the Momotus momota, a beautiful passerine known for its long, wagging tail, striking features, and voracity. In Costa Rica, the Mot Mot has been observed feeding on poison dart frogs.

The Thank You Gift includes airfare and rental car for up to two persons and to a maximum of $2000. Accommodations include the use of a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom villa/private residence. Amenities include: Kitchen, dining room, beautiful patio with in-ground pool, BBQ station. Two week stay date selection depends on availability and must be taken during the 2016 calendar year.

In the 1980’s, Canadian naturalist Bill Carrick learned that he could imprint Canada geese (Branta canadensis) to follow him while he motored around Lake Scugog in his boat. Once the goslings fledged, they flew beside him, creating a unique filming opportunity.

Bill Lishman is a Canadian artist, sculptor and inventor who was among the first Canadians to fly ultralight aircraft. He realized that the speed of Mr. Carrick’s boat matched the speed of his aircraft and he thought that maybe he could take the concept one step further by actually flying with the geese.

In 1993 Bill Lishman asked Joe Duff to join him in an attempt to conduct the first ever human-led migration of birds. At the time, Duff was a fellow ultralight pilot and a successful commercial photographer. The two artists-turned-biologists imprinted 18 Canada geese and, in the fall, they used two ultralights to lead them from Purple Hill in Ontario, across Lake Ontario, to the Environment Studies Division of Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia. Sixteen of those birds survived the winter and thirteen returned on their own the following spring. That record setting trip was documented by ABC’s 20/20.

Operation Migration was founded as a Canadian Registered Charity in 1994. (In 1999 it was granted 501-c3 status in the United States.) In 1995 Lishman and Duff formed a limited company called In The Sky Productions and contracted with Columbia Pictures to produce Fly Away Home, staring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin. In The Sky Productions provided the story rights, the wildlife permits, the geese, the flying and even some of the cinematography for the popular film.