Hooded Crane
It is one of the smallest cranes but is still a large bird. Its body is dark gray, fading to lighter gray-brown on the upper body with gray tips of the feathers. Its primary, secondary and tail feathers are black. The crane's neck is white, extending halfway down the front and nearly to the shoulders in the back. Its head is also white, apart from a single patch of bare red skin above the eyes. The iris is a hazel-yellow to orange-brown, and its bill is yellow-brown. Its legs and toes are black. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable, although males tend to be slightly larger. Juvenile hooded cranes have crowns covered in black and white feathers during their first year and exhibit some brown-gray wash on their body feathers.
Like all cranes, hooded cranes are renowned for their spectacular and elaborate courtship dances that strengthen bonds between mated pairs. During this graceful display, birds circle each other while leaping and calling, head-bobbing toward one another and bowing with spread wings. Grasses, sticks or feathers are frequently tossed in the air. These dances can be observed throughout the year as the birds continually reinforce their pair bonds.
Habitat
The hooded crane is found in the boreal forests and grasslands of south-central and south-eastern Siberia, Russia.
Non-breeding cranes are found in shallow open wetlands, natural grasslands and agricultural fields in southern Siberia, northeastern Mongolia, and northern China. Wintering hooded cranes utilize a wide variety of habitats. In China, they tend to roost along the shores of rivers and shallow lakes, and to forage in the muddy edges of lakes and in nearby grasslands, grassy marshes, rice paddies and agricultural fields. In Korea and Japan, they feed almost exclusively at feeding stations and in agricultural fields. It breeds in remote, wooded, upland bogs on gently sloping foothills and flat river terraces, mostly within the permafrost zone. It winters in freshwater marshes, wet grassland, coastal tidal flats and farmland. Paddy fields and meadows are commonly used habitat for foraging, though the species has a flexible strategy depending on food availability, with a range of habitats utilised. Flock size has been found to be influenced by food availability and level of disturbance and foraging behaviour is influenced by changes in water levels at Shengjin Lake.
Diet
Hooded Cranes are omnivorous opportunistic feeders. They dig and forage in both their breeding and natural wintering grounds. Their natural diet varies based on the season and their location. It includes aquatic plants, berries, insects, frogs and salamanders in the breeding areas, as well as roots, rhizomes, seeds, blades of grass and small aquatic animals in winter. Cranes in managed populations are fed a diet of crane pellets, smelt, fruits, vegetables, mealworms and crickets.
Breeding
Male and female hooded cranes mature sexually at about 3 years of age, but frequently take longer to form pair bonds and successfully reproduce. As with other cranes, hooded cranes form lifelong monogamous pair bonds. They will replace a mate that has died. Mated pairs engage in unison calling, which is a complex and extended series of coordinated calls. The birds stand in a specific posture, usually with their heads thrown back and beaks skyward during the display. The male always lifts his wings over his back, while the female keeps her wings folded at her sides. The female will call twice for every one time the male calls.
Hooded Cranes prefer to nest in mossy areas with widely scattered larch trees, avoiding areas that are either too open or too densely forested. Both the males and the females construct a nest made of reeds and grasses in which the female usually lays two eggs in April and early May. One chick often monopolizes the parents' attention, so it is rare for both chicks to survive to fledgling in the wild. The eggs are laid by the female and incubated by both parents for 27 to 30 days. The male defends the nest throughout this time when not incubating. The chicks fledge for 75 days, maturing at three to four years. By Aug., the hooded cranes leave the breeding grounds in family groups.
Population
The global population was estimated at 11,600 individuals based on winter estimates of 1,050-1,150 individuals in China 10,500 individuals in Japan and 114 individuals in Korea. Recent estimates suggest there may have been an increase from 11,500 a decade ago, to an estimated 14,000 - 16,000 individuals in winter 2014/2015. The wide range in the current population estimate reflects the difficulty of counting the dense flocks of cranes at Izumi and the lack of recent range-wide winter counts for China. The population is thus placed in the band for 6,000-15,000 mature individuals. This species's population is suspected to be decreasing at a moderate rate, in line with levels of wetland loss and degradation in its wintering grounds, primarily as a result of reclamation for development and dam building. Based upon winter counts, it is increasing at Izumi in Japan and Suncheon Bay in South Korea but the species is declining at all seven of its other known wintering sites. Across the whole population the past decline appears to have stabilised.
Threats
The key threats are wetland loss and degradation in its wintering grounds in China and South Korea, as a result of reclamation for development and dam building, especially the Three Gorges Dam and a proposed dam at the outlet to Poyang Lake which threatens an important wintering site. Conversion of rice-paddies to cotton fields at Longgan Hu and Dongting Hu has caused declines. A newly discovered wintering site at Suncheon Bay, South Korea, is threatened by development. The artificially high concentration of birds at Izumi, as a result of supplementary feeding, risks a major population reduction from disease or another catastrophe. The situation at Izumi is particularly sensitive because the area is a major poultry center so that huge economic interests could be threatened by a disease outbreak. Efforts to disperse Hooded Cranes to other locations has met with small success, and establishment of additional winter sites (together with a reduction in the concentration at Izumi) are considered essential to the species’ security. Other threats in China include pollution of coastal waters, invasive cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in tidal areas, pesticide poisoning, increased levels of human disturbance and over-fishing. Some poaching and hunting of breeding birds occurs but disturbance by geese hunters is a larger issue than direct hunting. A study that took samples from four wintering populations found genetic diversity to be low, and this may influence its ability to adapt to environmental change in the future.
Conservation
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix I and II. CMS Appendix II. Key protected areas include Norsky, Daursky and Khingansky (Russia), Daguur and Ugtam (Mongolia), Shengjin Hu, Longgan Hu, parts of Poyang Hu, Dong Dongting Hu and Chen Hu (China), Mundok (North Korea), Suncheon Bay (South Korea ) and Izumi-Takaono and Yashiro (Japan).
Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct further surveys to identify additional breeding areas. Establish strictly protected areas in the Bikin river basin (Russia) and Suncheon Bay (South Korea). Expand the area or number of suitable wintering sites in Japan. Expand protected areas at Chongming Dao and Xinglong Dongsha (China). Enforce measures to minimise threats to wetlands in the lower Yangtze due to hydrological changes caused by the Three Gorges Dam. If the proposed outlet dam is constructed at Poyang Lake, operation of the dam should attempt to restore the natural hydrology; careful monitoring of cranes and their habitats will be needed and active mitigation measures implemented to ensure availability of foraging habitat. Prevent poisoning from pesticides and poaching. Establish local crane conservation groups in China.