Bai He Returns to Yakutia, Russia

Earlier this week we received news that Bai He had arrived in Yakutia, Russia! The new location placed the young Siberian Crane to the northeast of Yakutsk, the capital of Yakutia, approximately 1,400 miles northeast of his last known location at Momoge National Nature Reserve in northeastern China.

Just yesterday we received a new coordinate that places him approximately 400 miles to the north (less than 100 miles from the East Siberian Sea - that is far north!). His current location is near where he was captured and banded in northern Yakutia (where his parents nested) in August 2008. Click on the image below to view a larger version on the map.

We have followed Bai He for nine months as he has journeyed nearly 6,000 miles between his summering and wintering areas. We hope to continue receiving signals from his satellite transmitter over the next few months, so we can follow his movements during his first summer away from his parents. We thank you for joining us on this exciting journey!

Russian Nature Reserves Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary

Last fall, Masha Vladimirtseva, Three White Cranes educator and researcher, sent us two updates from northeastern Russia as the Siberian Cranes migrated through this area (see our posting on Crane Days in Southern Yakutia and earlier postings from October 2008). A few weeks ago Masha passed on the news that two of the reserves that protect wetlands along the Siberian Crane flyway in southern Yakutia, Chabda and Kuoluma-Chappanda Republic Resource Reserves, are celebrating their ten year anniversaries in early May 2009.

As Bai He, our banded Siberian Crane, continues his northern migration, he may be migrating through Chabda and Kuoluma-Chappanda Reserves with other Siberian Cranes. Our last location from Bai He was received on April 8, 2009 in northeastern China. We received two poor quality signals from his transmitter last week, but we are optimistic that we will receive further location coordinates as he continues to move north.

To learn more about the Chabda and Kuoluma Chappanda Reserves, read Masha and her colleague's story on the UNEP/GEF Siberian Crane Wetland Project website.

Maya River, Chabda Republic Resource Reserve

Spring is in the Air

As we wait for the last snow to melt in the north, and the buds to open on trees and shrubs further south in the United States, we are also preparing for the northern spring migrations of wildlife throughout the world. Birds in the south are preparing for their northern flights and are gaining extra fat to fuel their spring migrations, including cranes in North America, Europe and Asia.

Last fall, we tracked two young Siberian Cranes as they completed their first migration from Yakutia, Russia to their wintering area in the Poyang Lake Basin in China. We tracked both cranes over 3,000 miles as they journeyed south (see the migration map below) and have monitored their movements through the winter months. We've stopped receiving location data from one of the cranes (No. 59948), but we are still receiving periodic signals from the second crane, Bai He (formerly No. 59947).

We hope we can track Bai He as he begins his northern migration in a few weeks, to learn where young Siberian Cranes along the East Asia flyway spend their first summer away from their parents (researchers believe these cranes may spend their first summer in a different location from breeding adults).

We are also excited to be tracking a new Siberian Crane along the species' western flyway this spring. The crane, Neya, was raised in captivity at Oka Crane Breeding Center in western Russia and released on the western population's wintering grounds in northern Iran in December 2008. Neya has paired with a male Siberian Crane that returned to the wintering grounds in fall 2008 (see image below - Neya is on the left). We are hopeful that the two cranes will migrate together, so that we can learn where the cranes summer. The male Siberian Crane is the only confirmed remaining wild crane in the western population, so this migration is very special. There are unconfirmed reports of other Siberian Cranes along the western flyway, but we are not certain where they spend the summer.

We hope that you will join us in the coming weeks as we track the Siberian Crane spring migrations in Asia!

Crane Days in Southern Yakutia

By Masha Vladimirtseva

This fall is very special because of two young Siberian Cranes who have their special task to carry PTTs (satellite transmitters for tracking the birds) and show their migration routes to the world.

Three people from our Institute went to southern Yakutia to watch and count Siberian Cranes along the flyway and transit stops in middle to late September. But I also had another goal – the education work in local schools and participation in Crane Days of the local schools. On September 25, we went to the school in Petropavlosk, and on September 26, we visited a school in Ust-Maya. More than 100 students were involved in the Crane Day activities.

There were several very fascinating shows in both schools performed by the students (below), and in Ust-Maya a group of older people from the settlement participated in the celebration. I gave my presentation on our Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World project. The students especially liked the Siberian Crane calls that I had taped at the International Crane Foundation – the cranes call very loudly!



In Ust-Maya we also discussed with teachers the summer camp held at the Chabda Resource Reserve in 2008. Students from the Ust-Maya school had a great experience to spend time on the nesting territory of the Hooded Crane and transit territory of the Siberian Crane. The students could watch Hooded Cranes flying over the Chabda Reserve building and hear the cranes’ calls. They liked the wooden models of Siberian Cranes made by ornithologist Vasily Okoneshnikov to attract real cranes to the feeding grounds during their migration.

On September 28-30, using bear trails in the tightly grown forest, we visited two bird observation points. The observation areas were built by inspector Peter Tokumov, who monitors the Siberian Crane migration every fall and spring. The first was a very high (15 m) wooden ladder with a small viewing deck, built on a hill. The second was a small blind for hiding from the wind made from stones and built on another hill. Both observation points were built about 4 km from each other, on either side of the Siberian Crane flyway.

On October 1, we conducted a Crane Day celebration in the Okhotski Perevoz school. The settlement is on both banks of the Aldan River and to reach the school we had to be transported to the right bank. This school includes just 25 students. We presented a “Crane Day” banner to the school. We showed them the Crane Day presentation and many crane pictures and videos, and talked with them. All of the students see migrating cranes every fall and spring. All of the children were rewarded with pins, stickers and posters. The young artists who presented their pictures for the website were rewarded with books and and other prizes.

That night, we saw our first flock of seven Siberian Cranes, with two young. On October 2 we saw two flocks of nine and 19 Siberian Cranes. We saw many more cranes the next day. While returning to the school, we met three local men who also counted cranes. They wrote digits (counting results) carved with a knife on fire wood. In the school, we showed our just taken photos to the children. Some of them had seen these birds, also. We continued to count Siberian Cranes flying over Okhotski Perevoz and counted 798 individuals. Some people could see these cranes far from the settlement.

Fall Migration Field Update

Masha Vladimirtseva emailed us yesterday with news from the field about the Siberian Crane fall migration. Masha and members of the Tomponski Inspection of Nature Protection counted 798 migrating Siberian Cranes (nearly 20% of the eastern population!) between October 1 - 6 in Tomponski Ulus in southern Yakutia. This is close to the recent locations of the two banded chicks that we are following this fall (view the migration map at www.scwp.info/imaps.html).

During the survey the researchers stayed with Rosa and Alexey Zelepukhin, local residents who watch the migration every year and give their reports to Masha's Institute in Yakutsk. Their survey location was 1 km to the west of Okhotski Perevoz, on the left bank of the Aldan River.

On October, 3, the group visited the head of Okhotski Perevoz's Administration, Vasili Federov. While discussing the Three White Cranes project with Masha and her colleagues, he received a telephone call and learned from a local woman that Siberian Cranes were flying over the Administration building. They jumped out of the building and counted 11 flocks of 8 to 80 cranes, including chicks. During just 10 minutes they saw 481 Siberian Cranes.

School Far in the Taiga

This story is about a school in a small village in the taiga of Yakutia, Russia. There is neither internet nor telephone or fax, and we connect to the school through Rosa Zelepukhina, a forester and shy old woman, who has worked hard all her life, and who comes to our Institute from time to time. She organizes Crane Celebrations in several schools in her region, Tomponski Ulus, in southeastern Yakutia. She encourages children to participate in environmental actions. Several local children were very late with their art preparation for the Republic Art Competition, “Siberian Crane - the Bird of Happiness.” At that time Rosa had just returned from our Institute with special prizes from the Organizing Committee for the Competition participants. She had no additional prizes for these students. She organized the local Exposition of these arts and still rewarded them with prizes she prepared herself. Introduction by Masha Vladimirtseva, Yakutsk, Russia

This is Rosa's story:

There is a small village, Okhotsky Perevoz (Hunter’s Transit) in southeastern Yakutia along the eastern Siberian Crane flyway. It was founded in 1936 as transit point on the Aldan River, a eastern tributary of the Lena River. In the past, shipments to the Okhotsky Sea were transported through this village by horses. Once it was a densely populated village, but then other roads were developed and the village lost its former status. At the present, 106 people live there, and only 19 students study in the school built for as many as 150 pupils. There are Yakutian, Russian, Belarus and Ukraine students.

In former times on the left bank of the Aldan River there was a Hydro-Meteorological Station, with 32 working staff, with a scientific research boat named Synoptic. And now there are just five staff. Many staff became teachers in Okhotsky Perevoz’s school. Director Elena Bashtovaya and the teachers do their best to make children feel close to the interior world in this remote land. Some topic parties are held every week here. We have a special summer camp. We have summer field trips, berry and mushroom gathering. Every spring and fall children ages six and older help adults count migrating Siberian Cranes and fill out the counting forms. Every year we celebrate Crane Day. Our students participated in the Republic Competition “Siberian Crane - the Bird of Happiness,” and two girls, Ira and Christina, won first prizes.

A very beautiful environment embraces this small village. But life here is not easy. And it is a great wonder that our people do not just survive in such hard conditions, but also develop the souls of our children.

Click here to read more stories about students in Yakutia, China and the United States participating in the Three White Cranes project.