At least five of the 184 endangered whooping cranes that wintered at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast have made it to North Dakota.

Two whooping cranes were spotted east of Bismarck Sunday afternoon, and the sighting was confirmed Monday, reported Paul Van Ningen, refuge manager at Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Three whoopers, probably a family unit that included a juvenile, also were seen in Mountrail County on Monday, said Stan Kohn, migratory bird biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. That sighting was confirmed by the local game warden.

Van Ningen said the two whoopers spotted near Bismarck were alone. "There were no sandhills or anything with them," he said.

The whoopers were on the ground between old County Highway 10 and Apple Creek Road, about eight miles east of Farmer's Livestock Exchange.

Pete Finley, a biologist-pilot at the refuge, drove over and confirmed the sighting Monday morning about 9:30.

"It was an adult pair out there," he said Monday afternoon. "They were kind of far off, on the ice, probably an eighth to a quarter mile off the road. Anyone doing 55 (mph) would drive right by them."

Apparently, whooping cranes like that neighborhood. It's the second year in a row that whoopers were reported in that general area.

"It's interesting because it's so close to Bismarck," Van Ningen said.

The Mountrail County sighting consisted of "three birds, sitting in cornfield in the snow," Kohn said.

"I think it was two adults and a young bird. I'm guessing it was a family unit."

The whooping cranes are migrating to their summer breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories.

Whooping crane sightings can be reported to Long Lake NWR at 387-4397, the state Game and Fish Department's office in Bismarck at 328-6300 or to local game wardens around the state.

"I've gotten lots of sporadic reports of birds that I think are misidentified," Kohn said. Those birds could be anything from snow geese to pelicans.

Whoopers stand about 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of about 7 feet. They are white with black wing tips, which are visible only when the wings are spread.

In flight, whooping cranes extend their long necks straight forward, while their long, slender legs extend behind the tail. Whooping cranes typically migrate singly or in groups of two to three.

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)