LINTON, Ind. – At 5- to 6-feet tall, with a wingspan of over 7 feet, whooping cranes will catch your eye. In fact, they can probably look you in the eye. They are the tallest birds in North America. Currently, there is a group of them settled in at Goose Pond  in Indiana and people are flocking to see them.

These birds are part of the Eastern migration population, said Mary Bresnihan, the International Crane Foundation’s (ICF) whooping crane outreach program assistant for Indiana. This population of about 80 birds spends the summer breeding in Wisconsin. Then they migrate through Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and into Florida.

The total population of whoopers, which are listed as threatened and endangered in the United States, stands at about 800, Bresnihan said. About 100 are in captivity and the rest are in the wild. Most are part of the Aransas Wood Buffalo population which migrates yearly from the Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Aransas on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Besides these two migratory groups, there are small, nonmigratory populations in central Florida and coastal Louisiana.

The total whooping crane population was down to only 30 birds in the wild in the 1960s, all part of that Aransas flock. Then researchers began breeding them in captivity.

“They started breeding cranes in captivity and they created this Eastern migratory population,” Bresnihan said. “A lot of these cranes were raised at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis.

“They used to train them with people in crane costumes who would feed them, teach them how to forage, and then teach them how to fly the migration route; they used ultralight aircraft. That was how this population learned to migrate,” she said. (The 1990s movie, “Fly Away Home,” told the story) “A few years ago they stopped doing that because there were enough adult cranes in the population that know the migration route.”

Very few of the cranes now go all the way to Florida, Bresnihan said. Most will stop in Indiana, Tennessee or Alabama for the winter. About 30 cranes stay in Indiana, primarily in the Goose Pond area. They will stay about December through March. They utilize the wetlands around Goose Pond and the farming fields.

“They love to spend time in the harvested cornfields,” she explained. “They find old grain and insects; they’re omnivorous so (they eat) pretty much anything they can get their beaks on.”

Once they get back to their nesting grounds, the birds always lay two eggs but usually only one will hatch, Bresnihan said. When mature, the birds are white with a red patch on their forehead, black mustaches, and legs, and black wing tips visible in flight, while immatures are rusty cinnamon, she said.

“They can only raise one chick at a time so after the first one hatches they typically abandon the nest,” Bresnihan said. “The second egg is kind of an insurance policy.”

A bird this rare and unusual draws a lot of attention. Every winter ICF has a temporary employee in Indiana and Alabama, such as Bresnihan, to do education and outreach. So as not to disturb the birds, ICF advises visitors to not get any closer than 200 meters.

“You should view them with binoculars or a spotting scope,” Bresnihan said.

The Goose Pond birds are often easily visible from a safe distance. Birders can check at the visitors’ center to see if they are on the property.

Jenny Stewart, Goose Pond naturalist, saw a family of three there. One is a juvenile, which she also saw last year.

“You can tell he’s still a baby but he has grown a lot. He is still orangey-rusty looking,” Stewart said. “There are nine of them here.”

Added Bresnihan: “If you are driving around the area and see them in the farming fields you should stay as far away as possible. If you get out of your car to get a look at them and you notice them starting to flap their wings or if one of them takes off – you’re too close.”

The cranes raised in captivity never see or hear an actual person except in a crane costume, so they’re not accustomed to people, Bresnihan said. “And we don’t want them to be; it is safer for them if they’re not. In captivity, they may be tossed grapes or corn by people in crane costumes because we do need to band them at some point and they will all be fitted with a transmitter.”

These birds depend on the fields after they have been farmed, Bresnihan said. They’re looking for grain and insects. ICF works with farmers and land owners to help them know how they can help the birds. Since the birds draw a lot of attention, ICF will provide signage, such as private property signs.

“I hope that people will know that here in the Midwest we do have whooping cranes,” Bresnihan said. “We brought them back but we’re hoping that they’ll have a survival story like the bald eagles.”

ICF is a private organization funded by donations and memberships. The organization’s goal is to preserve all 15 crane species and their habitats across the globe.

For more information visit www.savingcranes.org. Interested land owners in the Goose Pond area can contact Hillary Thompson, ICF, at hthompson@savingcranes.org.