Whooping cranes guided through state

MARTINSVILLE -- A flock of whooping cranes being guided by an ultralight plane on a migratory flight to Florida is expected to pass through central Indiana this week.\nThis is the second year of the guided 1,200-mile migration for the endangered birds from their summer habitat in Wisconsin. Five ultralights are leading the birds on this year's trip south, up from the five birds that flew north in April.\nA flock of 16 birds left Wisconsin's Necedah National Wildlife Refuge on Oct. 13, but five of them had already dropped out when they began just their third day of flying since then because of bad weather.\nScott Flaherty, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman, said the slow progress made it difficult to predict when the flock would arrive in central Indiana, where last year it spent a night at Paragon, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis.\nThe flock averages 30 miles a day and land at preselected sites when possible. Flaherty said the landing sites were usually on private property where the owners have given their permission.\n"As far as when to look up, I'm not sure," he said. "They're probably landing in the area on Wednesday or Thursday, but anything could happen. The best thing people can do is follow the route map on the Web site."\nAt 5 feet tall, whooping cranes are North America's tallest birds and one of the world's rarest, with only about 400 left. The whooping crane was near extinction in 1941, with only about 20 left.