The Siberian Crane (northern white crane) is one of the sacred symbols for the peoples living in Yakutia, therefore, since ancient times, this bird has become one of the main motifs in the creation of Yakut silver jewelry. In a general sense, the Siberian Crane is a bird of happiness, a meeting with which (Siberian Cranes avoid people and such meetings are very rare) promises happiness and well-being.
Siberian Crane: external features
The Siberian Crane belongs to the Crane genus, the Crane family. The bird is large - its height ranges from one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty centimeters, and its weight is about eight kilograms. The wingspan of the crane ranges from two hundred ten to two hundred thirty centimeters, depending on the population.
Only during winter migrations does the white crane make long-distance flights. The Siberian Crane nests and breeds in Russia. These birds are closely monitored by ornithologists.
Description
If you look at the Siberian Crane from a distance, you won’t see any special differences, but if you look at it up close, the first thing that catches your eye is the large size of this bird. The weight of the white crane reaches 10 kg, which is twice the weight of other birds of the crane family. The growth of the bird is also considerable - up to half a meter in height, and its wingspan up to 2.5 meters.
Its distinctive feature is the bare part of the head, without feathers, the whole of it, up to the back of the head, is covered with red thin skin, the beak is also reddish, it is very long and thin, and its edges have small saw-tooth serrations.
The body of the crane is covered with white plumage, only the tips of the wings have a black stripe. The paws are long, bent at the knee joints, and red-orange. The eyes are large, located on the sides, with scarlet or golden irises.
The life expectancy of Siberian Cranes is 70 years, although only a few live to an old age.
Color
The white crane (Siberian crane) has a characteristic feature that makes it difficult to confuse it with another bird - a long red beak with sharp serrations at the ends. There are no feathers around the eyes and beak, and the skin is painted a rich red color and is visible from afar.
On the body the feathers arranged in two rows are white, on the inside of the wings at the ends there are two rows - black. The legs are long and pinkish in color. They are excellent assistants for the Siberian Crane in wetlands: they allow them to move over hummocks in a sticky quagmire.
At first, the eyes of the chicks are blue, then they acquire a yellow tint. The white crane (Siberian crane) lives about seventy years, without forming subspecies.
Features and habitat
The Siberian Crane is a white crane whose height reaches 160 centimeters. The weight of adult individuals ranges from five to seven and a half kilograms. The wingspan usually varies from 220 to 265 centimeters. Males are often slightly larger than females and have a longer beak.
The color of white cranes (as you can easily guess from the name of the bird) is predominantly white, the wings have a black tip. The legs and beak are bright red. Juveniles often have a reddish-brown color, which later becomes noticeably lighter. The bird's cornea is usually pale yellow or red.
The beak of the Siberian Crane is considered to be the longest among all other representatives of the crane family, at the end of which there are sawtooth-shaped serrations. The front part of the head of these birds (around the eyes and beak) contains absolutely no feathers, and in most cases the skin in this area has a pronounced red tint. The eyes of white crane chicks are blue at birth, which gradually begins to turn yellow over time.
are found in Russia , but are actually not found anywhere else on the rest of the surface of our planet. They are distributed mainly in the territory of the Komi Republic, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Arkhangelsk Region, forming two separate populations that are isolated from each other.
Siberian cranes leave Russia exclusively for the wintering period, when flocks of white cranes make long flights to China, India and northern Iran. Representatives of this population settle mainly around various reservoirs and swamps, since their paws are perfectly adapted for moving on viscous soils.
the home of a white crane on your own, since they prefer to be located in the middle of lakes and swamps, surrounded by a wall of impenetrable forest.
Habitat
Today there are two populations of cranes of this species. One lives in the Arkhangelsk region, and the second in the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug. This is a very cautious bird - the Siberian Crane. The white crane, a brief description of which is given in the article, tries in every possible way to avoid meeting people, and this is not in vain: after all, poachers in many areas feel with impunity.
If the bird notices a person, it will leave the nest. The Siberian Crane can abandon not only clutches, but also already hatched chicks. Therefore, it is not recommended to disturb birds during this period. The white crane (Siberian Crane), which nests only in Russia, can winter in Azerbaijan and India, Afghanistan and Mongolia, China and Pakistan. At the beginning of March, the cranes return to their homeland.
In Yakutia, the Siberian Crane travels to remote areas of the tundra and chooses swampy swamps and impenetrable forests for placement. Here he lives until winter migration.
General description of the species
The white crane, or Siberian Crane, (Grus leucogeranus) belongs to the order Crane-shaped, family Crane, genus Crane. These birds nest only in a limited range of the northern territories of Russia.
The Siberian Crane bird reaches a height of about 140-160 centimeters, the wingspan is 210-230 centimeters, and the weight of the crane is from 5 to 8.5 kilograms. The front part of the white crane's head is devoid of feathers. In adult cranes this place is colored red. The beak of the Siberian Crane is very long, it is longer than that of other species, it is red in color and has a saw-toothed serration. The plumage is almost completely white, except for the black flight feathers on the wings. Young Siberian Cranes have brownish-red plumage. The cornea of cranes' eyes is red or pale yellow. The paws are long pink-red. The bird's lifespan is about 70 years.
Habitat
The white crane is rightfully considered a symbol of Russia, since it is in this country that the main habitat of these creatures is located. This method of settlement is called “endemic”. In other words, this is when a certain species or genus of animals lives strictly in a certain geographical area. There are two main populations of Siberian Cranes recorded in Russia. The first flock lives in the Arkhangelsk region. The second is in the north of Yakutia. These birds winter in the wetlands of India or China. By the way, it is in the Celestial Empire that you can find a large number of images of cranes in works of art.
According to modern data, the bird population is under serious threat, as the number of individuals is approaching a critical level. This is especially true for the West Siberian flock. Its habitat runs from the Arkhangelsk region to the Komi Republic, affecting the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Now, only twenty individuals have been spotted in this territory, which is an extremely tiny number.
The white crane is rightfully considered a symbol of Russia, since it is in this country that the main habitat of these creatures
As for nesting on the territory of Yakutia, from 300 to 3 thousand birds are recorded here. This is also a critical amount. Characteristic for both packs is the choice of places to live. These are various kinds of reservoirs and swampy areas. Despite global urbanization, cranes continue to live beyond the reach of humans.
Siberian Cranes travel enormous distances to winter. The main territories are China, Iran and India. It is noteworthy that such birds have rightfully won the hearts of Asian peoples. Therefore, images of cranes can be found on household items.
Nutrition
Staying in the north, they eat a lot of animal food, on their menu:
- rodents;
- fish;
- amphibians;
- insects;
- small birds, chicks and eggs.
Although cranes are not associated with violent predators, they can be very aggressive and tend to destroy the nests of smaller birds - they love to eat eggs and chicks, and if the parents protect the nests, they can kill and eat them too.
They are capable of very deftly snatching prey out of the water with their beak - they attack it so quickly that it does not have time to do anything
They are capable of very deftly snatching fish out of the water with their beak - they attack it so quickly that it does not have time to do anything. Siberian cranes also pose a threat to other living creatures living in the water, such as frogs and insects. They hunt rodents living near bodies of water, such as lemmings.
Although animal food is preferable for them in the summer, they still mostly eat plant food, since they do not devote much time to hunting. The main source of their nutrition is grass growing in the water - cotton grass, sedge and others. Siberian cranes usually eat only the underwater part of the stem, as well as the roots and tubers of some plants. They also love cranberries and other berries.
In winter, in the south, despite the much greater variety of small animals, they switch almost exclusively to plant food: mainly tubers and roots of grass growing in the water. They do not move away from water bodies; if other cranes sometimes cause damage to crops and plantings in fields nearby, then the Siberian Cranes do not even look at them.
Population
Long-term aerial surveys have shown that the size of the Yakut population in the breeding area between the Yana and Alazeya rivers does not exceed 250–300 birds, including approximately 90 breeding and territorial pairs. In the main part of the breeding range, the population density is 1 pair per 45 thousand hectares. Population numbers have been relatively stable, at least in the last decade
Lifestyle
Like other cranes, Siberian Cranes are monogamous and choose a mate for life.
White cranes are agile and active birds; they devote all their time during the day to searching for food. They spend no more than 2 hours sleeping, and always stand on one leg and hide their beak under the right wing.
Like other cranes, Siberian Cranes are monogamous and choose a mate for life. The period of their mating games is very remarkable. Before mating begins, the couple performs a real concert with singing and dancing. Their songs are amazing and sound like a duet. While dancing, the male spreads his wings and tries to hug the female with them, who keeps her wings tightly pressed to her sides. During the dance, lovers jump high, move their legs, and throw branches and grass up.
They prefer to nest among bodies of water, on hummocks or in reeds. Nests are built by joint efforts, on a hill, 15-20 cm above the water. There are often 2 eggs in a clutch, but under unfavorable conditions there may be only one. The eggs are incubated by the female for 29 days, and the head of the family spends all this time protecting her and the children from predators.
The chicks are born weak and frail, covered with light fluff; of the two, only one survives - the one that is more adapted to life and hardy. It will become covered with red feathers only at the age of three months, and, if it survives, it will reach sexual maturity and white plumage by the age of three.
Security status
The Siberian Crane avoids humans in every possible way and can leave the nest even at the slightest disturbance.
In the Red Book of Russia, two populations of the Siberian Crane are protected: the Ob, or West Siberian, which has been assigned the first protection status, and the Yakut, which has the third protection status.
The Siberian Crane is endemic to Russia and is not found anywhere else in the world in the wild. Today, only about 3 thousand birds have survived. The number of individuals in the West Siberian population is simply critical - 20 cranes! Several thousand more Siberian Cranes are kept in zoos and nurseries in Russia, Belgium, the USA and China. Oil production, transformation of the natural environment, drainage of swamps, high demands of the species on certain conditions, strong dependence of the Siberian Cranes on the disturbance factor - this is not the entire list of reasons for the sharp decline in the species’ numbers. The Siberian Crane avoids humans in every possible way and can leave the nest even at the slightest disturbance, so part of the clutches remains deprived. For a long time, scientists had very little information regarding the lifestyle, biology and ecology of this species.
Nutrition
Many naturalists are interested in the question: “What does the white crane (Siberian Crane) eat?” The diet of this beautiful bird includes both plant and animal foods. Along with aquatic plants: tubers, cotton grass, cranberries and sedges, which Siberian Cranes love very much, they will not refuse to feast on large insects, eggs of other birds, rodents, other people's chicks, invertebrate animals and fish. In winter, during migration, Siberian Cranes limit themselves only to plant food. It should be noted that these birds never harm agricultural land.
What does the white crane eat?
Photo: White crane from the Red Book
White cranes are omnivores and are not picky about food.
The diet of white cranes includes:
- seeds and berries are especially loved by cranes, cranberries and cloudberries;
- frogs and amphibians;
- small rodents;
- small birds;
- fish;
- eggs of small birds;
- algae and roots of aquatic plants;
- cotton grass and sedge;
- small insects, bugs and arthropods.
In their usual habitat, they often feed on plant foods and berries. They like to eat fish and frogs as nutritious food. Sometimes by rodents. During wintering, they eat what they find at the wintering site. Unlike many other birds, white cranes, even in years of famine, never fly to places of crops or to human dwellings. Birds do not like people, even on pain of death from hunger they will not come to a person. If cranes notice people near their nest, the birds may leave the nest forever.
Their beak helps cranes in obtaining food. Birds catch and kill their prey with their beaks. Cranes catch fish from the water using their beaks. To obtain rhizomes, cranes dig the ground with their beaks. Birds pick up seeds and small bugs directly from the ground. In captivity, birds are fed grain, fish, small rodents and eggs. And also in captivity, cranes are given meat from small birds, seeds and food of plant origin. The nutritional value of such a diet is in no way inferior to what birds eat in the wild.
Reproduction
White cranes are monogamous birds. Pairs form when the cranes are six years old. In the middle or end of May, a mature pair of birds chooses a place for future nesting. Like other crane species, the pair celebrates their reunion by singing loudly. The cry of these birds is characteristic - long, high and clear. It distinguishes Siberian Cranes from other species.
The Siberian Crane builds its nests in open water. They are well-compacted platforms made of sedge stems. A prerequisite when choosing a nesting site is the availability of fresh water, and the reservoir must be at least 40 centimeters deep.
It is interesting to watch the mating dance of a couple. At first, both birds throw back their heads and make melodic, complex and drawn-out sounds. Performing his “wedding” song, the male spreads his wings wide, while his chosen one keeps them folded. At this time, the white cranes begin their dance, which consists of bowing, jumping, tossing twigs and flapping their wings.
Both parents are involved in nest construction. Typically the female lays two gray eggs with small dark spots. In a dry year there may be one. The female incubates the offspring for twenty-nine days. At this time, the male vigilantly guards the nest.
The hatched offspring begin a difficult struggle for survival. As a result, only one largest and strongest chick remains. After seventy-five days, it develops brown-red feathers. They turn into snow-white beauties only by the age of three.
What does the bird look like?
It is thanks to its memorable appearance that the crane firmly enters the hearts of people. It’s hard not to notice such an exotic neighbor in nature.
- The bird is large, reaches a height of 140 cm;
- The wingspan is more than two meters;
- Completely white plumage;
- The beak and muzzle are red;
- There are no clear differences between males and females;
- Long paws red;
- The bird's weight reaches nine kilograms;
- Chicks are red when hatching;
No less remarkable is the purring of the Siberian Cranes . It immediately attracts attention and makes people look up at the sky, looking for a wedge of cranes. The special dances with which the crane looks for a partner to create a nest and hatch eggs are also memorable.
Red Book of Russia: white crane (Siberian crane)
The Siberian Crane is the largest bird of its family. It leads a predominantly aquatic lifestyle, which makes it difficult to save this species from extinction. Now the size of the Yakut population does not exceed three thousand individuals. For West Siberian Siberian Cranes, the situation is critical: there are no more than twenty individuals left.
The issue of protecting white cranes was taken seriously in 1970. Numerous nurseries and reserve funds have been created where ornithologists raise these birds from eggs. They also train the chicks to fly long distances. And yet, the threat remains that the white crane (Siberian crane) will completely disappear. The Red Book (international) also filled its lists with this endangered species. Hunting these birds is completely prohibited.
Social structure and reproduction
Photo: Siberian Crane chick
The mating season begins in the spring, immediately after migration. Siberian cranes break into pairs that are formed for more than one season - they remain stable for a long time, often until the death of one of the cranes. When reunited, they sing and perform joint “dances” - they jump, bend in different directions, flapping their wings, and so on. Young Siberian Cranes are looking for a mate for the first time, and for this they also use singing and dancing - the males are the active side, they walk around the females they have chosen as partners, coo loudly and melodiously, jump and dance. The female agrees with these advances or rejects them, and then the male goes to try his luck with another.
If a pair has formed, then the male and female together build a nest: it is quite large, so you need to trample and trample a lot of grass for it. The female lays a clutch at the beginning of summer - this is one or more often two eggs. If there are two of them, then they lay and hatch with an interval of several days. The female does the incubation, but the male can replace her for a short time. His main task is different - he protects the nest from those who want to feast on the eggs, attacking them as they approach. At this time, Siberian Cranes are especially aggressive, so small animals try to stay away from their nests.
After a month of incubation, the chicks hatch. If two of them appear, then they immediately begin to fight - newborn chicks are very aggressive, and very often such a fight ends in the death of one of them. The one who was born first has a much greater chance of winning. After a month, the aggressiveness of the little Siberian Cranes decreases, so sometimes their parents simply separate for the first time - one chick is raised by the mother, and the other by the father. And when they are a little older, their parents bring them together again - but, alas, not all couples think of doing this.
For the first week, the chicks need to be fed, then they are already able to look for food themselves - although for a few more weeks they beg for it, and sometimes their parents still feed them. They learn to fly quite quickly, they become fully feathered 70-80 days after birth, and in the fall they fly south with their parents. The family remains intact during wintering; the young Siberian Crane finally leaves it only the next spring, after returning to the nesting sites - and even then the parents have to drive it away.
Hope for revival
Since the mid-nineties of the last century, more than a hundred white cranes raised in nurseries have been released into the natural environment. Unfortunately, such chicks do not take root well (no more than 20%). The reason for such a high mortality rate is the lack of navigational orientation, as well as flight training, which is given by parents in natural conditions.
American scientists tried to correct this problem. They set up an experiment, the essence of which was to guide the chicks along a route using motorized hang gliders. In Russia they developed a similar program, which they called “Flight of Hope”.
Five motorized hang gliders were built in 2006, and with their help the young Siberian Cranes were taken along a long route from Yamal to Uzbekistan, where the gray cranes lived, and the Siberian Cranes went with them to spend the winter. In 2012, President V. Putin participated in such a program. But for some reason, this time the gray cranes did not accept the Siberian Cranes, and ornithologists were forced to bring seven chicks to the Belozersky reserve in Tyumen.
Origin of the species and description
Photo: Sterkh
Birds evolved from archosaurs - this happened about 160 million years ago. Few intermediate forms have been preserved, allowing us to trace the early evolution, but the most ancient birds retained characteristics that united them with lizards. Over the course of millions of years, they developed and their species diversity increased.
Of the modern birds, the craneformes order, which includes the Siberian Crane, is one of the earliest. Researchers believe it is highly likely that they appeared before the catastrophe that occurred about 65 million years ago and triggered a mass extinction event in which many species, including dinosaurs, disappeared.
Video: Sterkh
The family of cranes included in the order formed later, already in the Eocene, that is, also quite a long time ago. Scientists believe that this happened in America, and from there the cranes spread to other continents. Gradually, along with the expansion of the range, more and more new species appeared, including the Siberian Crane.
Their scientific description was made by the German scientist P. Pallas in 1773, they received the species name Grus leucogeranus and were included in the genus Cranes. At the time when the description was carried out, the Siberian Cranes were much more widespread, almost throughout the entire north of Russia, but now their range and population have declined.
Interesting Facts
- In India, the Siberian Crane is called the lily bird. Indira Gandhi issued a decree (1981), according to which the Keoladeo Park was created in the wintering place of white cranes, where the strictest regime is observed and favorable conditions are created for the protection of these magnificent birds.
- The white crane (Siberian Crane) travels the longest distance compared to other types of cranes: more than five and a half thousand kilometers. Twice a year these cranes fly over nine countries.
- In Dagestan, whose territory the Siberian Cranes cross during migration, a beautiful legend has appeared that the Siberian Cranes are the souls of fallen warriors. The legend formed the basis of a famous song, the words of which were written by Rasul Gamzatov.
- During the mating season, white cranes sleep no more than two hours a day.
- For the Mansi and Khanty peoples, the white crane is a sacred bird, a family totem, and an indispensable character in all ritual ceremonies.
- The Khanty will never bother the Siberian Crane: there is an unspoken taboo on visiting the places where white cranes nest in the spring and summer.
- Ornithologists consider the most effective methods of breeding these birds to be the method of “foster parents” and raising young animals in the reserve. In the first case, the eggs of white cranes can be placed in the nests of gray cranes. In the second, the chicks are raised in a reserve, isolated from human contact. They are then released to adult wild cranes.
Ornithologists continue to develop measures aimed at preserving this magnificent bird. We hope that the white crane (Siberian crane), the description of which we presented in this article, will be preserved and the beautiful bird will delight us with its appearance for a long time.
Character and lifestyle
Of all the other representatives of the crane family, it is the Siberian Crane that stands out for the high demands it places on its habitat. Perhaps that is why they are currently on the verge of extinction.
Although it is safe to say about the white crane that this bird is considered very timid and avoids close contact with humans, at the same time it can be extremely aggressive if there is a direct threat to its home or its own life.
White crane in flight
The Siberian Crane is active almost throughout the day, devoting no more than two hours to sleep, during which it stands on one leg, hiding the other in the feathers on its belly. During the resting period, the head is located directly under the wing.
Since Siberian Cranes are very cautious birds, they usually choose a place to sleep right in the middle of the water surface, away from bushes and other shelters behind which predators can hide.
Despite the fact that these birds are very active and sleep only a couple of hours a day, and are also kind of champions in the range of seasonal migrations (the duration of flights often reaches six thousand kilometers), during the wintering period they are not so active, and at night They prefer to rest for days.
The cry of white cranes is very different from all other members of the family, and is drawn out, high and clear.
Listen to the cry of the white crane
