Sandhill scouts hit Indiana
Comet staff report

Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area reports sandhill cranes are roosting on the property in northwest Indiana. The first migrating cranes arrived Sept. 10.

These early cranes are harbingers of vast greater sandhill crane flocks that gather each fall at the Fish and Wildlife Area near Medaryville.

These Hoosier marshes are the largest resting place in the nation for these huge, clattering birds during their fall migration to Georgia and Florida.

Indiana's sandhill crane flock is due to reach its noisy zenith in mid-November, with 15,000 to 20,000 birds, and there's no better way to experience this natural aerial circus than by spending an autumn sunrise or sunset at Jasper-Pulaski FWA.

The best place and times to view the cranes at Jasper-Pulaski FWA is from a handicapped accessible observation tower next to an area known as Goose Pasture, around sunrise and before sunset.

J-P FWA weekly crane migration count updates and J-P FWA maps are found at: http:// www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/publications/ scranes.htm.