Western Flyway
Western Flyway>Wintering>Iran, Jordan
Wintering site of the Western Population of Siberian Crane is situated in the north shore of Caspian Sea in flooded rice fields used for duck trapping near the town of Fereydoon Kenar (including the villages of Ezbaran and Sorkh Rud) in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Siberian Cranes usually arrive on the wintering grounds in late October or early November and remain until late February or early March.
After the discovery of wintering site in the Fereydoon Kenar area in 1978 the Siberian Crane population numbered between 9-14 birds until the later 1990s and usually included one or two juveniles. Within the large trapping area (damgah) near Fereydoon Kenar, pairs defended large territories against the intrusion of other cranes. It appeared that the damgah could only support three-four pairs. The smaller damgahs did not support territorial pairs suggesting they might not be large enough for such a function. However, these damgahs were often used as feeding and roosting sites by non-territorial cranes, which were perhaps unpaired and sub-adult birds. The small damgahs are also used if the cranes are frightened from the large damgah.
According to the most recent reports by local trappers and the "Siberian Crane Project's Guards" three
Siberian Cranes arrived to Gat Ayaesh Damgah, Fereydoon Kenar Trapping Area, on 24th October 2004 around 11:00 a.m.
During the winter 2004/05, a pair of Siberian Cranes and a single bird stayed separately at Fereydoon Kenar and at Sokhe Rud Damghas, correspondingly.
On 25 February, three wild Siberian Cranes gathered together at Ezbaran Damgag, probably preparing for take-off, although the weather was rather cold for migration.
Some of the Ezbaran trappers were staying at the Damgah over night to protect the Siberian Cranes, just as they did at Sorkhrud Damgah, when the single crane stayed there.
On 27 February, three Siberian Cranes began migration from Ezbaran Damgah at 2:45 p.m. according to information from local guard, Mr Goli. The weather was fine and most other waterfowl left this wintering site on that day.
For more information:
Sadegh Sadeghi Zadegan
National Manager of UNEP/GEF SCWP, Department of Environment, Iran
Ellen V. Tavakoli
MCCA/ Mazandaran Crane Conservation Association/ Caspian littoral, and the “Damgahdar” members of MCCA
According to the information from the local people, a single wild Siberian Crane came to the wintering grounds in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah, Mazandaran Province, on 1 November 2003. For two days nobody saw it, but on 3 November this crane was registered in New Sokhrud Damgah. In the following period the Siberian Crane constantly moved between these two damgahs: it fed in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah and spent nights in New Sokhrud Damgah.
A pair of Siberian Cranes with a chick came to the wintering place on 13 November 2003, probably at night. Early in the morning (6:30 a.m.), trappers saw this family in Esbaran Damgah, then, at 8:30 a.m., the birds were spotted in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah.
Thus 4 Siberian Cranes (family with chick and lone crane) wintered in Iran this winter.
On 26-27 December two captive bred juvenile Siberian Cranes were released at Fereydoon Kenar Damgah near wild Siberian Crane family (pair with one chick). Read more>
On 26 February 2004 near 9 a.m. the Siberian Crane family (pair with one chick) was seen flying high and circling around damgah and flying out west. It is their usual way to leave for their migration.
The wild lone Siberian Crane and two released juvenile Siberian Cranes stayed at Sokhrud Damgah until morning of 3 March 2004, when they started their migration. One of the released captive bred Siberian Cranes, marked PTT, landed near 300 km from Sokhrud Damgah. and was caught by local people. Then this bird was transferred to the Bujagh National Park.
For more information:
Sadegh Sadeghi Zadegan
Iran Department of the Environment
Yuri Markin
Oka State Biosphere Nature Reserve
Ellen V. Tavakoli
Mazandaran Crane Conservation Association
On 30 October 2002 local hunters reported that three (3) Siberian Cranes arrived in Ezbaran Damgah, Mazandaran Province, on the night of 29 October. They saw cranes in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah the next morning. The last few days were very balmy, almost tropical warm (around 25o C) and breezy. On the night of 1 November it started raining, ending with a fierce thunderstorm.
On 1 November, we visited Ezbaran where three (3) Siberian Cranes stayed all night, but they flew off during the day separately, therefore the “smaller one” was not a chick as the local people reported. These three were the pair and one adult.
On 6-9 November, however, we watched a Eurasian Crane in juvenile plumage stay close to the Siberian Cranes. This Eurasian Crane, which looked much smaller than the Siberian Cranes, was first seen with the pair of Siberian Cranes and therefore was confused as their juvenile. It is possible that this young Eurasian Crane came along with the pair from Siberia.
It is a very unusual sighting. The flyway of the Eurasian Cranes passes in 500-600 km to the west where they fly through Azerbaijan along the other side of the mountains.
According to information from local trappers, on 2 March 2003, around 10.30-11.00 a.m., four Siberian cranes (the three wild birds and the parent-reared released juvenile Siberian Crane called Angara) took off from Sorkh Rud Damgah, circling the damgah and calling loudly, while climbing higher and higher in the air. The Siberian Cranes took off on the first sunny day, although the weather was still cold. Although there was some shooting in the area, so far no birds were scared away by hunters’ activities.
For more information:
Ellen V. Tavakoli, and Hamid Amirebragimi
Mazandaran Crane Conservation Association/Caspian littoral
This winter we arrived at the Siberian Cranes wintering places in the Fereydoonkenar Damgah, Mazandaran Province, in 6 February 2002. During our visit to Fereydoonkenar Damgah all three adult Siberian Cranes stayed inside the damgah and did not fly out. The damgah is the place where local people traditionally hunt and trap waterfowl. The damgah is fenced naturally by trees naturally and artificially by reeds. It is very strongly prohibited to go into damgah and to disturb waterfowl and other water birds. Therefore, we unfortunately had no possibilities to capture the Siberian Cranes for marking by satellite transmitters in this year.
Three (3) Siberian Cranes left the Sorkhrud Damgah in Mazandaran at about 2 p.m. on Saturday 2 March 2002 along with other water birds. They were apparently frightened by random shots from hunters after they had been feeding in the Sorkhrud Damgah all that morning (as reported by the local representative). Shooting the previous nights at Fereidoonkenar had emptied that area of waterfowl. A shoot-out had been prevented this year by the Department of Environment who did a magnificent job by having the Sari, Babol and Amol offices consistently monitor the area for the last week. Their game guards prevailed on the trappers to keep the area peaceful until the cranes left. Thus the Siberian Cranes stayed close to their normal departure date of 4-5 March. We found no trace of the Siberian Cranes on 3-4 March.
Sadegh
Sadeghi Zadegan,
Iran Department of
the Environment
Yuri
Markin,
Oka State Biosphere Nature
Reserve
Ellen
V. Tavakoli,
Mazandaran Crane Conservation
Association
According to information from Ellen Vuosalo-Tavakoli and local trappers, six (6) Siberian Cranes were keeping in at Ezbaran and Fereydoon Kenar Damgah, Mazandaran Province, during the winter. They stayed in Fereydoon Kenar Damgah until 1 March, when it flew from the wintering place.
One of six Siberian Crane had been banded with a white plastic ring with number 166. This bird was marked in Siberian Crane breeding grounds in West Siberia (near Uvat town) by a Russian team. The hunting season started on 2 March.
For more information:
Yuri Markin
Oka Biosphere State Nature Reserve
Three Siberian Cranes were registered in Qa' Khanna, a seasonally flooded mudflat 35 km north-west of Azraq, in the Eastern Desert of Jordan on 2 February 2001. View more articles “The first Siberian White Cranes Grus leucogeranus in Jordan” by Nashat A. Hamidan from Sandgrouse 25 (2) Autumn 2003 http://www.osme.org/sand252/scrane.html.
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© 2004 by SCFC