Group of new whooping cranes to arrive in Vermilion Parish next month at White Lake

A new group of 11 young whooping cranes is scheduled to arrive in Vermilion Parish next month in an ongoing project to re-establish the endangered birds in the south Louisiana marshes where they once thrived.
Since the project began in February 2011, 40 of the rare birds have been released at the state’s 71,000-acre White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area, and 23 are alive.
Only one crane survived out of the first group of 10 brought to White Lake, but subsequent releases have been more promising, with 12 of the 16 birds released in late 2011 still flying and 10 of the 14 birds released last year also thriving.
Sara Zimorski, a biologist with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, tells The Advocate bird deaths were expected.