Reintroduction
Reintroduction>Iran
In the winter of 1996/97 two captive parent-reared birds imported from the International Crane Foundation (ICF) were released at Fereydoon Kenar, Mazandaran Province. Due to permit and logistic problems, the birds did not arrive in Iran until late winter. The captive reared cranes did not join the wild cranes and did not migrate. In winter 2002/03 and 2003/04, the release program was resumed at the wintering site at Fereydoon Kenar. In 2002/03, three juvenile Siberian Cranes raised in Oka Crane Breeding Centre, were released in the Fereydoon Kenar area. Read more>> One of the juveniles, a parent-reared female joined the wild single Siberian Crane and departed the wintering place together with it and a wild pair on 2 March. This bird was marked by colour bands and PTT and traced along the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and further to Dagestan , Russia . The PTT signal stopped moving in Dagestan on 4 March and until 10 June 2003 PTT data continued to arrive from the same general area. Although ground searches and interviews of the local people were conducted, the fate of this bird is unknown. Read more>> Two other costume-reared juveniles did not join the wild Siberian Cranes. They were caught and transferred to an aviary in the education centre of the Bujagh National Park, Islamic Republic of Iran.
In 2003/04 two parent-reared juvenile Siberian Cranes were released at Fereydoon Kenar. Within a few days they joined a wild single Siberian Crane and started migration with this bird and departed the wintering place together with it. Unfortunately one of two parent-reared juvenile Siberian Cranes, marked by PTT, landed in Gilan Province not far from the release site just after starting migration. It was captured and transferred to the Bujagh National Park. Read more>>
The winter release experiments showed that it is necessary to release juvenile, parent-reared, captive-produced cranes in late autumn to allow longer social bonding time with the wild cranes. The provision of additional food during the whole winter period is also needed to that the release juveniles are in optimal physical condition for the spring migration. This recommendation is supported by the results of the successful project of human led migration of Whooping Cranes in North America, where they are provided with food during the wintering season in Chassahowitzka Nature Park in Florida.
On 23 December two young Siberian Cranes (male Vokhma and female Suna) were transported to Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Both chicks were reared by parents in Oka Crane Breeding Nenter (OCBC), they were in good health and rather afraid of people.
On 24 December the cranes were taken by car to Fereydoon Kenar Damgah, Mazandaran Province, for the release to the Siberian Crane wintering places where a wild Siberian Crane family (pair with one chick) was present at that time. The young cranes were left at night in the kumeh of one of the trappers, Gorban Ali Azady (kumeh is a trapper’s seasonal house). On 25 December the birds were put in a temporary pen, which was made inside the trapper’s net called a "Doumchal" (Doumchal is a pond net used for duck trapping). The cranes started preening soon after being released.
In the afternoon of 26 December one of the cranes, male Vokhma, was measured and, marked with standard metal ring on right leg and blue-wite-yellow plastic rings on left leg. Then he was released to the western part of Fereydoon Kenar Damgah through the Keres – a passage used for releasing decoy ducks to damgah. The second chick, female Suna, was to be released at New Sohrud Damgah, where a lone Siberian Crane was staying. However, since we were not sure whether the single cranes would stay in the damgah, we released her also in the same area at Fereydoon Kenar Damgah on 27 December. Just before the release Suna was measured and marked with a standard metal ring on left leg and a green plastic ring with white number 03 on left leg. A satellite transmitter #33244 was attached to the plastic ring.
During the next two days the chicks stayed separately. On 30 December, they were first seen together at an earthen mound. In the next few days another problem arose: the crane chicks came to the sites where the trappers had dispersed some wheat to attract the wild ducks and ate it. The trappers were very unhappy because the chicks were frightening away the ducks. They tried to drive the cranes away with sticks, but they remained.
After the release local people noted several contacts between the released birds and the wild pair of Siberian Cranes with a chick. Adult cranes were aggressive and tried to scare the released chicks away by attacking them. The chicks did not fly away, but just walked.
On 10 February the released birds and wild Siberian Cranes for the fist time have been seen joint and flue from Fereydoon Kenar to the other damgahs.
Both released juvenile Siberian Cranes stayed with a wild lone Siberian Crane at Sokhrud Damgah until morning of 3 March 2004, when they started their migration. One of the released cranes, marked PTT, Suna, landed near 300 km from Sokhrud Damgah and was caught by local people. This bird was transferred to the Bujagh National Park.
For more information:
Sadegh Sadeghi Zadegan
Iran Department of the Environment
Yuri Markin
Oka Biosphere State Nature Reserve
On 7 January 2003 Yuri Markin left for Iran with three Siberian Cranes chicks raised at the Oka Crane Breeding Center (OCBC). Two of the chicks (Khoper and Don, both males), reared by isolation technique, participated in hang-glider experiment in 2002 and made a very long voyage from the Siberian Crane breeding grounds near Kunovat (north of West Siberia) to Armizon (south of West Siberia). Then the two birds were returned to OCBC where they were kept in visual and sound isolation from people. On 7 January they made their next voyage – by plane to Iran. The third chick, a female named Angara, was reared by parents. Yuri and the three birds arrived safely in Iran and then traveled by truck to the Siberian Crane wintering grounds near Fereydoon Kenar.
On 13 January 2003 Angara, equipped with a PTT (Read more>>) and a yellow ring with black number 77, was released into the new (built by duck hunters only 7 years ago) Sorkh Rud Damgah (wintering site of a lone wild Siberian Crane male and a young Eurasian Crane). The very same evening local people caught Angara and brought her to the village of Sorkh Rud . Next morning (14 January) we released this young female Siberian Crane once again into the same damgah.
On 16 January, Angara began feeding together with the wild adult Siberian Crane male and the young Eurasian Crane. We are hopeful that this young bird will be accepted by the wild adult, since their relationship is looking better every day. On 17 January, Angara flew over Sorkh Rud Damgah together with the wild Siberian and Eurasian Cranes for the first time. Since then Angara , the wild adult Siberian Crane, and the young Eurasian Crane were seen flying together on several occasions. Almost every night this group was seen flying to roosting site, mainly to Fereydoon Kenar and also probably to Ezbaran or other unidentified places, flying back early morning to feed in Sorkh Rud Damgah.
Behaviour of the released birds is different from day to day. Angara was usually observed feeding and flying with the wild Siberian Crane male and the young Eurasian Crane. The adult Siberian Crane was not trying to chase the young crane away. Our main concern is that the young Siberian Crane (Angara) does not have enough self-confidence to follow the adult Siberian and young Eurasian Cranes outside the damgah since it keeps coming back into the damgah after following them for a while. Still, Angara is spending more time every day with these cranes giving us a hope that she will bond with them strongly enough to leave together for the breeding grounds.
Until 16 January, Don and Khoper (young Siberian Cranes who participated in the 2002 hang-glider experiment) were used as decoys to lure and capture a wild pair of Siberian Cranes in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah. They were kept in a temporary pen outside the damgah. The wild pair, however, did not show any interest in these young cranes.
Our efforts to capture any of the wild birds were not successful. At Sorkh Rud, where the lone adult Siberian and young Eurasian Cranes stayed inside the damgah, we could not do much without disturbing duck trapping operations. At Fereydoon Kenar, we tried several times to capture wild cranes by baiting them with drug-treated (?-Chlorolose) grain and luring into a cage or nets. These attempts failed because this pair has been changing its territory every time in response to unusual activities nearby.
We visited both Fereydoon Kenar and Sorkh Rud damgahs every day to check the status of the wild and released birds and assess the possibility to catch one wild bird and attach a PTT.
On 16 January, Don and Khoper , the two “hang-glider” Siberian Crane chicks, were released into Fereydoon Kenar Damgah - the same place where they were kept in the pen. The chicks were staying together most of the time gradually getting better at flying inside and outside the damgah, always spending nights near the release site. Sometimes they were seen feeding in just about 100 m from the wild pair of Siberian Cranes. The adults did not chase them away; neither did they show any interest in joining the young birds.
On 5 February, the two “hang-glider” chicks flew near the town of Fereydoon Kenar, when one of them, Khoper, was struck with a bamboo stick thrown by a shepherd. His left wing was injured and he could not fly. On 6 February, after an examination by a veterinarian, Khoper was caged in the pen near Kumeh (trapping station) in Fereydoon Kenar; the bird stayed inside the cage or close to it until the migration began on 2 March. On the same day we captured the second chick (Don), attached a PTT (with a green ring and white number 04) to his body, and released him in the new Sorkh Rud Damgah, the staging area of the group of three cranes (Angara, the wild adult Siberian Crane, and the Eurasian Crane). The very old eastern and the 7-year-old western Sorkh Rud Damgahs are both located near the Sorkh Rud Town.
On 7 February, Don flew to the old Sorkh Rud Damgah where he was once again captured by local people and brought to the village. Upon our request the trappers took Don back to the new Sorkh Rud Damgah and released him there. Because of improper handling during this transfer, Don suffered a leg injury, could not walk very well and had to stay in one place most of the time. Once in a while he made a move to join the group of three cranes. On 9 February, Don flew together with the group over the new Sorkh Rud Damgah for the first time.
On 25 February, Don flew from new to the old Sorkh Rud Damgah and stayed there until 2 March, the day when migration of wild Siberian Cranes has begun. On that day at 9:30 a.m. a group of cranes including the wild pair of Siberian Cranes, the single Siberian Crane (Angara), and the young Eurasian Crane arrived to the new Sorkh Rud Damgah and circled it. Suddenly the young Eurasian Crane landed inside the damgah and after that the group left the area within a few minutes. On 3 March, Sadegh captured Don in the old Sorkh Rud Damgah, removed the PTT and took Don along with Khoper to the Bujagh National Park (Bujagh is an important Iranian GEF Project site and the area that was selected for hang glider experiment). In Bujagh, staff of the Iranian Department of Environment built a 144 m 2 pen and placed these two “hang glider” birds into the pen to be used in the future project.
For more information:
Sadegh Sadeghi Zadegan
Iran Department of the Environment
Yuri Markin
Oka Biosphere State Nature Reserve
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© 2004 by SCFC