Demography of Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population

2014

The Siberian crane (Grus leucogeranus) is the third rarest crane species in the world with a breeding range now centered on 3 core areas and a buffer zone in the arctic of northern Yakutia in northeastern Russia. During 16 July-2 August 2009, we undertook ground surveys within the Khroma River core breeding area, surrounding buffer zone, and lands lying to the west of the known breeding range to estimate densities and determine habitat use and social status of Siberian cranes. A total of 142 Siberian cranes were sighted (including 55 pairs) at 54 locations with 32 cranes (including 13 pairs) sighted outside the currently known breeding range in the lower drainages of the Syalakh and Syuryuktyakh Rivers. After adjusting for a probability of detection of 0.484 (95% CI = 0.281-0.833), Siberian crane densities in the Khroma core area and the buffer zone averaged 0.0921 cranes/km2 and 0.0363 cranes/km2, respectively. A majority of cranes (n = 93 [65%]) occurred in complexes of large basi...

We describe in detail the nesting habitats of the Eurasian Crane in Estonia and explore relationships between different habitat characteristics and nesting success. We analysed all 161 reported Eurasian Crane nest finds in Estonia. We found that the cranes favorite nesting habitats are different types of mire (71% of all nests), especially fens (44%). We conclude that, despite the fact that the Eurasian Crane breeds in different habitats, nesting sites include the same or similar structural elements (vegetation types, plant species and communities and elements of micro-relief). We found that the date of the beginning of egg laying is significantly related to the size of the nesting habitat and that the annual mean date of the beginning of egg laying in Estonia has advanced considerably during the period 1901 to 2001. We also discovered a significant relation between the distance of neighbouring nests (population density) and the brood size and a negative effect of human activity on nesting success.

Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, 2014

The White-naped Crane Grus vipio is one of the most threatened species within the Family Gruidae. To address the paucity of information on the biology of this species, a study of its breeding ecology was conducted in Muraviovka Park, southeast Russia in 2011 12. It was discovered that the egg-laying period at this site extended over a 25 day period, and that both parents participated in incubation and exchanged incubation duties on average 7.3 times per day. The incubation period lasted 33 35 days and hatching success per nest was at least 56.3. Only the female brooded the chicks. To assess time budget, recorded behaviors were divided into 11 different categories. Differences were seen in the time allocation of each parent towards different behaviors and these differences sometimes varied in relation to the incubation period versus the chick-care period. The adaptive significance of these behavioral shifts and the differences in the roles of each parent in terms of chick survival are a topic for future investigation.

Bird Conservation International, 2002

Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus occurs only in Asia, and is Critically Endangered. The western population of the species has been almost extirpated, wintering at just two known sites, in Iran and India. To help conserve species that migrate long distances it is essential to have a comprehensive conservation plan that includes identification of migration routes and key resting areas. One Siberian Crane was satellite-tracked from the south Caspian Sea to its breeding grounds in Russia during the spring of 1996. The crane began migration on 6 March, and completed its migration on 1 May. This destination was formerly unknown as a breeding area for the species. During migration, the crane rested primarily at the eastern end of the Volga River delta. This suggests that the delta may be an important resting site for Siberian Crane.

Conservation Biology, 2004

We investigated the application of satellite tracking to the conservation of cranes and other waterbirds and the necessity of international cooperation in the conservation of migratory species. Using satellite tracking, we followed 11 White-naped Cranes (Grus vipio) on migration from their breeding grounds in eastern Russia to their wintering grounds in China and Japan. From 1991 to 1993, we captured cranes with the aid of helicopters and attached satellite transmitters (platform transmitter terminals) to captured birds via a harness system. We tracked cranes for 156 days on average, across 2558 km, and obtained an average of 339 locations per crane. Cranes migrated over 8-90 days. During migration, birds spent 1-30 days at 4-12 rest sites. Cranes wintered at two main sites: Poyang Lake, China, and Izumi, Japan. All seven cranes migrating to the Poyang Lake area rested at the Yellow River delta-Bohai Bay, China, and all three traveling to Izumi rested in the Demilitarized Zone on the Korean Peninsula. Other important rest sites were marshes around the Wulagai River, Huainan, Hu-Lun Lake, Linyi, Tangshan, the Three Rivers (Sanjiang) Plain, Tianjin, and the Xar Moron River, all in China, and Lake Khanka-Xinghai at the border of China and Russia. The habitats resting cranes used most frequently were plains, including upland areas, marshes, and rivers. Although nature reserves exist at the two main wintering sites of Poyang Lake and Izumi, rest sites used by cranes were poorly protected. Even when areas used by cranes for resting or wintering were included in nature reserves, reserves were threatened by human encroachment and development. To ensure that cranes can continue to migrate successfully, it is crucial that the establishment of reserves continues at important rest areas and that the areas covered by reserves at wintering sites be extended to include more of the areas utilized by cranes. Also, development and human disturbance should be minimized in reserve areas. Because long-distance migrant birds, including cranes, range over such large areas, conservation of these organisms and their habitats necessitates multinational communication and cooperation. Resumen: Investigamos la aplicación del rastreo por satélite a la conservación de grullas y otras aves acuáticas y la necesidad de cooperación internacional en la conservación de especies migratorias. Utilizando el rastreo por satélite, seguimos la migración de 11 grullas de nuca blanca (Grus vipio), desde susáreas de reproducción en Rusia oriental hasta suárea de hibernación en China y Japón. De 1991 a 1993 capturamos grullas con la ayuda de helicópteros y les colocamos transmisores de satélite (terminales de transmisor de plataforma) mediante un sistema de arnés. Rastreamos a las grullas por 156 días en promedio, a lo largo de 2558 km, y obtuvimos un promedio de 339 localidades por grulla. Las grullas migraron por 8-90 días. Durante la migración, las aves estuvieron de 1-30 días en 4-12 sitios de descanso. Las grullas invernaron en dos sitios principales: Lago Poyang, China e Izumi, Japón. Las siete grullas que migraron alárea del Lago Payong descansaron en el delta del Río Amarillo/Bahía Bohai, China, y las tres que viajaron a Izumi descansaron en la Zona Desmilitarizada en la Península Coreana. Otros sitios de descanso importantes fueron humedales alrededor del río Wulagi, Huainan, Lago Hu-Lun, Linyi, Tangshan, la Llanura Tres Ríos (Sanjiang), Tianjin y el Río Xar Moon, todos en China, y el Lago Khanka/Xinghai en la frontera entre China y Rusia. Los hábitats utilizados más frecuentemente para descanso fueron llanuras, incluyendoáreas elevadas, ciénegas y ríos.

Wildlife Monographs, 2011

The Mid-continent Population (MCP) of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) is widely hunted in North America and is separated into the Gulf Coast Subpopulation and Western Subpopulation for management purposes. Effective harvest management of the MCP requires detailed knowledge of breeding distribution of subspecies and subpopulations, chronology of their use of fall staging areas and wintering grounds, and exposure to and harvest from hunting. To address these information needs, we tagged 153 sandhill cranes with Platform Transmitting Terminals (PTTs) during 22 February-12 April 1998 in the Central and North Platte River valleys of south-central Nebraska. We monitored PTT-tagged sandhill cranes, hereafter tagged cranes, from their arrival to departure from breeding grounds, during their fall migration, and throughout winter using the Argos satellite tracking system. The tracking effort yielded 74,041 useable locations over 49,350 tag days; median duration of tracking of individual cranes was 352 days and 73 cranes were tracked >12 months. Genetic sequencing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from blood samples taken from each of our random sample of tagged cranes indicated 64% were G. c. canadensis and 34% were Grus canadensis tabida. Tagged cranes during the breeding season settled in northern temperate, subarctic, and arctic North America (U.S. [23%, n ¼ 35], Canada [57%, n ¼ 87]) and arctic regions of northeast Asia (Russia [20%, n ¼ 31]). Distribution of tagged cranes by breeding affiliation was as follows: Western Alaska-Siberia (WA-S, 42 AE 4% [SE]), northern Canada-Nunavut (NC-N, 21 AE 4%), West-central Canada-Alaska (WC-A, 23 AE 4%) and East-central Canada-Minnesota (EC-M, 14 AE 3%). All tagged cranes returned to the same breeding affiliation used during the previous year with a median distance of 1.60 km (range: 0.08-7.7 km, n ¼ 53) separating sites used in year 1 and year 2. Fall staging occurred primarily in central and western Saskatchewan (69%), North Dakota (16%), southwestern Manitoba (10%), and northwestern Minnesota (3%). Space-use sharing indices showed that except for NC-N and WC-A birds, probability of finding a crane from one breeding affiliation within the home range of another breeding affiliation was low during fall staging. Tagged cranes from WC-A and EC-M breeding affiliations, on average, spent 25 and 20 days, respectively, longer on fall staging areas in the northern plains than did WA-S and NC-N birds. Cranes in the NC-N, WA-S, and WC-A affiliations spent 99%, 74%, and 64%, respectively, of winter in western Texas in Hunting Zone A; EC-M cranes spent 83% of winter along the Texas Gulf Coast in Hunting Zone C. Tagged cranes that settled within the breeding range of the Gulf Coast Subpopulation spent 28% and 42% of fall staging and winter within the range of the Western Subpopulation, indicating sufficient exchange of birds to potentially limit effectiveness of MCP harvest management. Harvests of EC-M and WC-A cranes during 1998-2003 were disproportionately high to their estimated numbers in the MCP, suggesting more conservative harvest strategies may be required for these subpopulations in the future, and for sandhill cranes to occupy major parts of their historical breeding range in the Prairie Pothole Region. Exceptionally high philopatry of MCP cranes of all 4 subpopulations to breeding sites coupled with strong linkages between crane breeding distribution, and fall staging areas and wintering grounds, provide managers guidance for targeting MCP crane harvest to meet management goals. Sufficient temporal or spatial separation exists among the 4 subpopulations on fall staging areas and wintering grounds to allow harvest to be targeted at the subpopulation level in all states and provinces (and most hunting zones within states and provinces) when conditions warrant. Knowledge gained from our study provides decision-makers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Russia with improved guidance for developing sound harvest regulations, focusing conservation efforts, and generating collaborative efforts among these nations on sandhill crane research and management to meet mutually important goals. ß 2011 The Wildlife Society.

Landscape Ecology, 2015

Context The Eurasian crane (Grus grus) is an iconic and sensitive species. It is therefore necessary to understand its landscape ecology in order to determine threats. Objectives (1) To map the distribution of cranes and then model their habitat requirements in Estonia, linked to the current level of protection. (2) To determine the environmental characteristics of, and the habitats present in, sites utilized by the birds, and their sensitivity to change.

http://www.ingber.com/ arate81_boo .txt N.b.: This text was prepared by applying standard OCR software to scan in the actual pages of %A L. Ingber %T Karate: Kinematics and Dynamics %I Unique %C Hollywood, CA %D 1981 %O ISBN 0-86568-025-6 I have obtained written permission from the publisher to enter this text into my archive.

Throughout all the Cambridge exams, grammar plays an important role. In this file, you will find the ten most important points that are tested most often in paper 3 (Use of English) in FCE. There are examples for each grammar point and at the end of the file you will find a list of useful books that can help you to revise some aspects.