Welcome to Week 4 of Quarantine with Cranes! Over the next few months, the International Crane Foundation will provide activities for you and your loved ones to do from the safety of your home. This week’s activities focus on one of the world’s fifteen crane species, the Red-crowned Crane. See Week 3 of Quarantine with Cranes here.
Dear Friends,
I find that I can stay pretty focused while working at home these days, ignoring the goings-on of my home-bound family, the barking dog, and robo phone calls when I really need to get a job done. But I have a big weakness for birds! A red-bellied woodpecker on the feeders outside my window will draw me out of my deepest concentration.
White-naped Crane Borzya is named after a river in Southeast Russia, where she was banded in August 2015 by Mongolian and Russian crane experts. She is pictured at Togyo Reservoir in Cheorwon, South Korea.
The majestic White-naped Crane is an iconic species of the threatened wetlands and grasslands of East Asia. Populations use two different flyways, linking breeding areas to stopover and wintering grounds. The Western population, many of which nest in Mongolia, southern Russia and northern China, migrate to wintering areas around Poyang Lake in Southeast China. This population has declined by up to two-thirds, numbering at most 1,500 birds. The Eastern population, nesting mainly in Russia, migrates to the Demilitarized Zone – DMZ area of Korea and down to Izumi in southern Japan. This population is stable at about 7,500 individuals.
Red-crowned Cranes spar on their winter feeding grounds in Hokkaido, Japan.
In October, I traveled to Beijing Forestry University for a three-day workshop jointly organized by the University’s Center for East Asian – Australasian Flyway Studies and the International Crane Foundation. Our principal goal was to draft a ten-year Crane Strategy and Action Plan for the East Asian Flyway, comprising Russia, Mongolia, China, North and South Korea and Japan focusing on four threatened crane species – Siberian, Red-crowned, White-naped and Hooded Cranes.
Our monthly summary of media stories highlighting the International Crane Foundation’s global programs.
Two Siberian Cranes preparing for flight at the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Shandong Province, China on Dec. 22, 2018. Picture provided by Jiangxi Provincial Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center.
Yesterday evening (India time), I received a message from the editor that our submission has been accepted for publication in the journal “Emu – Austral Ornithology.” This journal is Australia’s foremost source of scientific information on birds, and it is not easy to get work published here. Wooo–hooo!!
