Rare whooping crane flock thriving (AP/CNN)

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) -- Once down to about 15, the world's only naturally migrating flock of whooping cranes has continued its comeback, now numbering a record 237 birds in wintering grounds along Texas' Gulf Coast.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Tom Stehn, who tracks the flock, said 45 cranes were born last year, including a rare seven sets of twins.

He credited the increase to mild weather at their nesting grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada's boreal forest. There, the birds begin their 2,500-mile migration route from their summering grounds to Texas.

"They avoided having that cold weather hit, that just-above-freezing and drizzle that seems to kill the chicks," he said.

Stehn flies at low altitudes over the 35-mile stretch of Texas coastline where the birds feast on blue crab and wolfberries. The cranes tend to stay in family groups in territories about a mile wide.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/08/whooping.cranes.ap/index.html

as the Whooping Cranes winter about 180 miles or so north of Harlingen.