More than 1,500 iconic sandhill cranes have been killed by bird flu in Indiana, officials say, the latest development in the spread of the highly infectious respiratory illness. Volunteers in masks and gloves have been collecting the 15-pound birds from shorelines,

There is a heightened alert as the great sandhill crane migration begins. An estimated million cranes will converge on central Nebraska as they make their annual trek north to nest for the summer. Sign up for our Newsletters However,

An unvaccinated child in Texas has died from measles, authorities said Wednesday, marking the first US fatality from the highly contagious disease in nearly a decade as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed a growing outbreak.Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.

But an Indiana Department of Natural Resources specialist says that case numbers should drop as temperatures warm.

There is no cure for the disease, which has a high mortality rate among birds but remains a low risk to people, according to the CDC

Officials say that dozens of migrating sandhill cranes were found dead at a Northwest Indiana lake in recent days, with bird flu the suspected cause of death.