By RICHARD HINTON The early birds of North America's only flock of wild whooping cranes has started the 2,400-mile northward migration to summer breeding grounds. Five of the protected birds left the Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday, Tom Stehn of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the U.S.

By Jason Unrau, THE CANADIAN PRESS YELLOWKNIFE - One of the most majestic and endangered birds on the continent appears to be making a slow flight to recovery, say experts who see whooping cranes returning to their Texas wintering grounds in record numbers this year.

Hungering for blue shell crabs, the 5-foot-tall whooping cranes are trekking across Canada and the U.S. to finally arrive on the Gulf Coast where they will spend the winter months.

By Bill Hanna, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Oct. 16--This should be a record-breaking year for whooping cranes along the Texas coast. Wildlife scientists predict that 250 whooping cranes will migrate to Texas this winter.

By RICHARD HINTON Whooping cranes - those huge, white, rare birds - are on the move from their summer breeding grounds in Canada to their winter homes in the marshes of the Texas Gulf Coast. None have made it as far south as North Dakota yet, but they are coming, Martha Tacha, of the U.S.