Central Flyway

*Please report any edits or updates to the Conservation Plan to the ICF/CMS Siberian Crane Flyway Coordinator

Introduction

The Central population of Siberian Cranes recently nested on the riparian lowlands of the Kunovat River in western Siberia. They traditionally migrated 5,000 km southeast over the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, before arriving at their wintering grounds on the Gangetic floodplains of northwest India. Keoladeo National Park (KNP) in the state of Rajasthan, India, has been a major wintering area for Siberian Cranes. Winter counts at KNP have indicated a steady decline from about 80 birds in the 1960s to just a single pair in winter 2001/02 (numbers of birds were higher in some reports: 200 in 1964-65, according to Walkinshaw 1973, and 100 in 1967-68 according to Sauey 1985). In the summer of 2002 a pair, presumably the same pair mentioned above, was observed for the last time on the breeding grounds in Russia.

However according to results of a questionnaire and interviews with local people conducted under the UNEP/GEF Siberian Crane Wetlands Project, 10 sightings of 1, 2 or 3 Siberian Cranes in Kunovat River Basin and 3 sightings of 2 or 3 cranes in Uvat District within the breeding range in West Siberia, and 2 sightings per one Siberia Crane in migration stopover in south of Tyumen Region were registered in 2006. There have been also unconfirmed reports of several cranes in Uzbekistan, including sighting of 10 Siberian Crane in Bukhara Region in 2007, and one in Pakistan along migration route, and in India, their in wintering grounds.

Siberian Cranes are strictly protected on their breeding grounds in Russia and on their wintering grounds in India. However, hunting along the migration route is considered to be the primary factor responsible for the demise of this population. The recovery of the population can only be achieved by carefully introducing captive-reared cranes into the flyway. Security for the cranes as individuals and the conservation of key wetlands throughout their range is fundamental before efforts can be initiated to restore the population by introducing more captive-reared birds into the flyway.

Reducing Mortality

In 1998, a small satellite transmitter (Platform Terminal Transmitter, or PTT) was placed on a pre-fledged juvenile Siberian Crane reared by the last pair of Siberian Cranes known on the breeding grounds. The bird’s movements were tracked across Asia and ended in central Afghanistan. Several days later the parents arrived at KNP in India. The fate of the young crane is unknown, but it is thought that it may have been shot in Afghanistan.

Laws are in place to protect Siberian Cranes in all Range States. Recently President Decree ban hunting in some region of Afghanistan. There have been confirmed incidents of the shooting of Siberian Cranes in Russia and Afghanistan, and it is suspected that Siberian Cranes are in danger in all nations along their migratory route, except in India where wildlife enjoys better protection. Ancient practices of live crane trapping in Pakistan annually claim several thousand Eurasian and Demoiselle Cranes that share the migration corridor with the Siberian Crane. Fortunately, Siberian Cranes are likely not attracted to the live decoys of Eurasian and Demoiselle Cranes. However, in recent years, although outlawed, the shooting of cranes is believed to be spreading in northwest Pakistan. In all of the Range States, efforts must continue to protect the Siberian Cranes. It is important also to identify, monitor and manage other potential threats and mortality factors, such as pesticides, collision with electric wires and the like.

Eurasian Cranes Help Siberian Cranes

The entire range of the Central population of Siberian Cranes is overlapped by the range of the abundant Eurasian Crane. During the past decade, teams of American, Indian, Japanese and Russian researchers have studied the ecology and migrations of Eurasian Cranes with the hope of using the abundant species to help in the conservation of the rare species. Satellite telemetry has been a vital tool in determining the migration routes of both Siberian and Eurasian Cranes.

By placing a PTT on a Eurasian Crane on the Kunovat breeding grounds of the Siberian Crane, it was determined that some Eurasian Cranes spent the winter along the border between Afghanistan and Iran. Both members of a pair of Eurasian Cranes fitted with PTTs were followed from Keoladeo National Park (KNP), India, to presumed breeding grounds of the cranes near Novosibirsk, Russia. This pair returned the following winter to KNP. These fragments of information suggest that Eurasian Cranes at the northern limit of the distribution of breeding (the Kunovat Basin where Siberian Cranes also breed) migrate to more northern regions of the wintering distribution of Eurasian Cranes (border areas of Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, also Afghanistan and Uzbekistan). In like manner, Eurasian Cranes breeding at more southern regions of the breeding area (Novosibirsk), perhaps winter at more southern regions of the wintering distribution (India). But the PTT placed on a Eurasian Crane from the flock in the south of Tyumen Region (where Eurasian Cranes come from the north part of West Siberia) before fall migration showed that this Eurasian Crane flew from Tyumen Region to the to the estuary of the Indus River in Pakistan.

In North America an experiment to establish a new population of the rare Whooping Crane was undertaken in Idaho by substituting Whooping Crane eggs into the nests of the abundant Sandhill Crane. Over a 12-year period, 77 Whooping Cranes were reared and migrated south with their foster parents. Unfortunately, no pairing occurred between Whooping Cranes. It appeared that the Whooping Cranes were sexually imprinted on Sandhill Cranes. However, the Whooping Cranes learned the migration route of the Sandhill Cranes and they learned to feed similar to Sandhill Cranes in upland habitats.

Researchers in Russia reasoned that if Siberian Crane eggs produced in captivity could be hatched and reared by wild Eurasian Cranes, then the Siberian Cranes might learn to migrate to safer areas and to feed in upland habitats and not almost exclusively in wetlands like wild Siberian Cranes. Acknowledging the risk of problems involved with sexual imprinting, it was hoped that these cross-fostered Siberian Cranes might become "guide birds" to lead south juvenile Siberian Cranes that had been reared in captivity and imprinted on their own species.

Captive-produced eggs of Siberian Cranes were substituted into the nests of Eurasian Cranes on the basin of the Kunovat River Basin and Konda and Alymka River Basin (Uvat District) where Siberian Cranes nest. The goal was to establish a flock of Siberian Cranes that would return to the traditional breeding grounds of the Siberian Cranes, but would migrate to the wintering area of the Eurasian Cranes. During 1991-2006, 39 eggs were placed in Eurasian Crane nests on the Siberian Crane breeding grounds. Most of these eggs were hatched and the chicks were fledged by Eurasian Crane foster parents. During autumn migration in 2000, one of these juvenile Siberian Cranes was observed with its Eurasian Crane foster parents at Lake Tengiz, Kazakhstan. Another juvenile Siberian Crane carried a satellite radio transmitter, and migrated across Asia to the lowlands of the Amu-Darya River along the border with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. It is not known if this crane spent the winter in that area. However, these data confirm that at least two of the cross-fostered Siberian Cranes successfully migrated over a portion of the migration route with the Eurasian Cranes.

Many thousands of Eurasian Cranes spend the winter in northwest and central India and migrate northwest across Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, another much smaller group winters in northeast India in Assam and are believed to migrate northeast into China and perhaps on to Russia. Indian researchers hope to place satellite radios on these cranes to determine their migration route. If these cranes are determined to benefit from a safe migration corridor and if they breed in an appropriate area in Russia, there is interest in Russia of substituting Siberian Crane eggs into the nests of these cranes.

The safety of Eurasian Cranes along the northwest migration corridor of the Siberian Cranes from India is a measure of the security that might be provided to Siberian Cranes if the population was restored. Security for any of these populations can only be provided through widespread public education and enforcement of regulations that are intended to protect cranes, particularly in Pakistan where trapping and hunting is on the rise.

Captive-reared Siberian Cranes in Release Experiments

Concerns that Siberian Cranes reared by Eurasian Cranes might be sexually imprinted on Eurasian Cranes prompted researchers to develop alternate techniques for rearing captive cranes. Chicks have been raised by crane-costumed humans and captive Siberian Crane role models were placed in adjacent enclosures. This technique produced cranes that were afraid of non-costumed humans and were imprinted on their own species. When released near wild Eurasian Cranes, they showed similar feeding and roosting behavior to wild cranes, and than initiated migration with the wild cranes.

Flourishing colonies of captive Siberian Cranes at the Oka Crane Breeding Center (OCBC) in the Oka Nature Reserve in Russia and the International Crane Foundation in the United States have provided juvenile cranes for experimental release programs in Russia and India. A third major captive colony has recently been established at the Cracid Breeding and Conservation Centre in Belgium. Costume-reared and parent-reared juveniles have been transferred from captive breeding centers to the breeding grounds of the wild Siberian Cranes and staging areas of Eurasian Cranes. Some of these birds were released in late summer with wild Siberian Cranes on the Kunovat Basin. They joined the wild cranes and migrated with them. Others were released with wild Eurasian Cranes at the Belozersky Zakaznik (Wildlife Refuge) in the Tyumen Region which lies along the migration route of the Siberian Cranes. They joined the wild Eurasian Cranes in roosting and feeding areas, and eventually migrated with them. During the 1991-2006 period, 141 young Siberian Cranes were released from which 117 started fall migration. None of these cranes was observed on the known wintering grounds. In subsequent years, there have been some unconfirmed reports of individuals at migration staging areas several hundred kilometers from the area where they were released. The vast and inaccessible nature of the Siberian wilderness, the low numbers of humans, and the financial costs to survey wide areas and satellite tracking providing make it difficult to evaluate the success of the release experiments.

Siberian Crane juveniles normally receive supplemental food and training from their parents. It is possible that during their energetically demanding migration many of the released cranes might have perished from malnutrition.

Over a period of several years, 6 juvenile captive-produced cranes were released in late winter near the wild Siberian Cranes at KNP with the hope that they might join the wild cranes and migrate north in spring. The released birds did not socialize extensively with the wild cranes and they did not migrate. It is thought that the late winter releases at KNP did not allow enough time for the released birds to develop social bonds with the wild cranes before the wild cranes migrated. However, the feeding behaviour and daily activities of the released cranes were similar to the feeding patterns of wild Siberian Cranes wintering at KNP.

The surviving cranes were non-migratory and they did not breed. Over a period of several years, one by one they disappeared for a variety of known and unknown factors. The experiment confirmed that captive-reared cranes could survive in the wild throughout the year at KNP, but it is unlikely that they can breed at such southern latitudes.

Ultra-light Aircraft and Crane Migrations

In the United States, costume-reared Sandhill and Whooping Cranes have been trained to follow a slow-flying ultra-light aircraft piloted by a crane-costumed human. The cranes are flown in wide circles around the vicinity of the release area for several weeks before migrating in a step-by-step flight south across the United States. The cranes spend the winter in a protected and isolated area where there is no contact with non-costumed humans. In late winter / early spring they migrate back to the vicinity of the release areas in the north. Their behaviour is similar to that of the wild cranes. After three successful years of assisted one-way migration south along the route, there is considerable hope that this method will become the standard applied method to reintroduce birds in flyways where they have become extinct.

After the migration corridor of the Central population of Siberian Cranes is safe for cranes, an adaptation of several human-led migration techniques (e.g. training to follow both boats and ultra-lights, combined with trucking in boxes) can be applied to restore the population of Siberian Cranes. Throughout the autumn migration and on the wintering grounds at KNP, India, the released birds would be provided with complete protection and an abundance of food. On their spring migration, they would be on their own to face the gauntlet of dangers when passing over the Hindu Kush Mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the central Asian plains of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. To reduce the risk factor from hunters along the identified migration path, an intensive education and awareness campaign is needed in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Since ultra-lights are prone to be grounded in bad weather, and require frequent refueling, present plans for the assisted migration include hang-gliders. Experiments with Siberian Cranes in Russia and with Sandhill Cranes in California with modified hand-gliders show that considerable training of both birds and pilots is required before the arduous Central population route can be undertaken. Present plans include an experimental assisted migration to be undertaken along the shorter western population route from Russia to Iran.In 2002, the “Flight of Hope” ultra-light project was initiated in Russia. In the preliminary phase of this project, a hang-glider technique was used to try to teach the migration route to six Siberian Cranes. It was shown that the Siberian Cranes could be trained to follow a hang-glider to energetically soar in thermals similar to wild migrating cranes. As a result of this experiment, four Siberian Cranes joined the fall migration of Eurasian Cranes. The second attempt to lead captive-bred Siberian Cranes with ultra-lights supported by oil-gas company ITERA was undertaken in 2006, but birds were returned to OCBC. Now the release of Siberian Cranes is planned at a migration stopover and wintering site for Eurasian Cranes in Uzbekistan.

Education and Public Awareness

The Sterkh Foundation ("sterkh" is the Russian word for Siberian Crane) in Salekhard, just north of the breeding grounds of the cranes, is committed to the recovery of the Central population of Siberian Cranes. It engages in widespread and effective public education within the Yamal District and supports the release, on the traditional nesting grounds of the Siberian Cranes, of captive-reared cranes produced at the Crane Breeding Centre at the Oka Biosphere Nature Reserve. The Sterkh Foundation has produced an excellent video about Siberian Cranes and has made copies of it available to colleagues in other nations along the flyway. In 2005 the Sterkh Foundation organized a major Crane Festival that included children’s art and exhibition of Siberian Crane pictures and an international workshop on the “Flight of Hope” Project. In 2006, the Sterkh Foundation published a colourful book containing the best children’s artwork from the festival.
CMS and ICF have also produced a video about Siberian Cranes that has been repeatedly broadcast over most of the Range States. In some of these States the film was translated into local languages. A beautiful poster, depicting a painting of a Siberian Crane by Robert Bateman, was produced in 13 languages and distributed in 10 countries.

Re-activated in 2000, the Crane Working Group of Eurasia initiated and organized Crane Celebrations annually since 2002, involving Siberian Crane sites in the Armizon District in Tyumen Region, Astrakhan Nature Reserve in Russia, Naurzum Nature Reserve in Kostanay Region in Kazakhstan, in Djizaksky, Samarkandsky and Tashkentsky Regions in Uzbekistan and in Turkmenistan. A Crane Celebration was held also in Oka Nature Reserve, where the Crane Breeding Centre is located. For this activity, education materials including pins, stickers, calendars, posters, brochures and a booklet “101 Questions about Cranes” by Professor Vladimir Flint and “Materials for Crane Celebration” are produced and distributed annually.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have the greatest challenges in crane protection. Save the Environment of Afghanistan (SEA), the only non-government organisation in Afghanistan dedicated to conservation, is promoting crane conservation. It has carried out studies of the migrations of Eurasian and Demoiselle Cranes across Afghanistan, has created a poster featuring cranes and statements from the “Quran” supporting the conservation of birds, and is helping Kabul Zoo to build a special exhibit featuring the three species of cranes native to Afghanistan.

In Pakistan the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) Wildlife Department (governmental custodian organisation for wildlife management) and WWF-Pakistan (a non-governmental organisation) have been actively involved in crane conservation. Key achievements of these organisations include establishment of a crane refuge in Lakki, promulgation of crane rules in NWFP, working with crane hunters and keepers on organising crane conservation associations, educating school children through nature and crane club activities in schools, and applying other training and education activities. With limited funding, both of the organisations have plans to launch an integrated crane conservation program with other partners in the region.

Habitat Protection

The conservation of wetlands used by Siberian Cranes is vital to the survival of the cranes. These wetlands are widely separated along a corridor between the breeding and wintering sites. Lake Tengiz and the Naurzum wetlands of Kazakhstan, and Dashte Nawar and Lake Ab-i-Estada of Afghanistan are among the key sites where Siberian Cranes have been reported to consistently rest during their migration. Their wintering grounds at KNP are strictly protected and recognised internationally as a World Heritage Site. Under the UNEP/GEF SCWP[1], conservation actions are being taken to help assure the long-term survival of Siberian Crane habitats in Russia and Kazakhstan, including securing improved legal protection and management capacity for protected areas. CMS and ICF will help promote conservation activities in the remainder of the Range States of the Central population by strengthening the flyway level coordination and establishing a network of protected areas.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) represents a potential threat to Siberian Cranes as well as other wild waterbirds. HPAI incidences have been recorded in all CMS MoU Range States except Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with significant wild bird mortality in some cases. Increased surveillance and reduction of transmission risks at key sites are desirable.

Conclusion

Many innovative techniques are presently available to try to re-introduce Siberian Cranes in the wild. A prerequisite for applying these techniques to re-establish a population of Siberian Cranes in Central Asia is the protection of all cranes along the migration corridor, through:

reduction of mortality, by enacting laws in Afghanistan and effectively enforcing laws already in place in other Central Asian countries;
widespread public education; and
study and protection of key wetlands.

The goal is to re-establish the population that appears to have vanished recently as a consequence of the activities of humans. To that end, the following Conservation Plan describes in detail the measures that were agreed at the Fifth Meeting of Signatory States to the Memorandum of Understanding in order to achieve this ambitious goal.

[1]Development of a Wetland Site and Flyway Network for Conservation of the Siberian Crane and Other Migratory Waterbirds in Asia

� 2004 by SCFC