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

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.