@lintworm - I think technically they are still treated as vagrants, although they are yearly in Japan and China in very small numbers. There is a breeding population in Russia which has increased a lot in recent years, and while those normally migrate to North America outside of the breeding season it is probably birds from Russia which are migrating south in Asia rather than migrating to North America.
It mentions family groups being recorded in east Asia which, given that cranes teach their offspring where to migrate, likely means numbers will increase over time.
Considering how small Hooded Cranes are, this is very surprising! The race of Sandhill Crane that nests in Siberia (as well as in Alaska and the Canadian tundra) is known as the Lesser Sandhill Crane and is the smallest of the races (or subspecies). It truly is small although I'd never seen one next to a Hooded Crane before. My home zoo of Oklahoma City, had a pair of Hooded Cranes for a few years and a pair of Florida Sandhill Cranes (which they still have) and that race of Sandhill Crane is a bit bigger than a Hooded Crane - but not by much!
