A record number of whooping cranes has arrived at their winter home on the Texas Gulf Coast, and more of the endangered white birds are en route.

An aerial survey conducted Wednesday under ideal conditions showed 224 cranes, including 42 chicks, the highest count ever at the winter home of North America's largest wild flock of whooping cranes.

Eight cranes, including one adult pair with two chicks, are still are in migration and last reported in Kansas. Their arrival would swell the size of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock to 232. Last year's peak population was 220, then a record. Whooping crane counts at Aransas have been conducted since 1938.

The 42 chicks at Aransas also mark an all-time high, surpassing the previous record of 34 in 2004. Six sets of twins present surpass the previous high of four chick pairs in 1958.

The cranes breed and fledge chicks at Wood Buffalo National Park, which lies on the Alberta-Northwest Territories border in Canada, and make the 2,500-mile trip each spring and fall.

Tom Stehn, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's national whooping crane coordinator who works at Aransas NWR, was unable to locate one family group that was part of the count during last week's flight.

"(It) was most likely overlooked," he wrote in his post-survey e-mail report sent Thursday. "However, I cannot totally rule out that this family had moved to San Jose Island or the refuge. If I can confirm their presence on the next flight, that will raise the number present to 184 (plus) 43 (equals) 227 at Aransas."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 701-250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.)