Hooded Crane Grus monacha Scientific name definitions

91–100 cm; male 3280–4870 g, female 3400–3740 g; wingspan 160–180 cm. Grey body ; head white except for “hood” of bare red skin above eye on forecrown; iris orange to red . Similar to Antigone vipio, but smaller, with fully white neck. Juvenile plumage tinged brown; crown black and white.

• Common x Hooded Crane (hybrid) Grus grus x monacha

SE Russia (middle to lower Amur S to Bikin basin, and the W & S Sokha-Yakutia) (3 Mikhailov, K.E. and Shibnev, Y.B. (1998). The threatened and near-threatened birds of northern Ussuriland, South-East Russia, and the role of the Bikin River basin in their conservation. Bird Conserv. Int. 8(2): 141–171. Close ) and N China (Heilongjiang) (4 Rank, M. (1993). Hooded Crane breeds in China. Oriental Bird Club Bull. 18: 18. Close ). Winters mainly in S Japan; also South Korea and C & E China.

In breeding range, occupies isolated bogs and higher altitude forested wetlands, e.g. of larch (Larix). Non-breeders use open wetlands , grassland and agricultural fields. Winter habitat more diverse: shores of rivers and shallow lakes, grassy marshes, rice paddies and agricultural fields . Found at feeding stations and in agricultural fields in Korea and Japan.

Migrates through NE China, where noticeable concentrations recorded at Beidahe, Hebei (5 Williams, M. D., G. J. Carey, D. G. Duff, and X. Weishu (1992). Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe, China, 1986–1990. Forktail 7:3–55. Close ). The Muraviovka game reserve, on the Russian-Chinese border, is an important staging area in autumn; in 2009 the peak count, on 15 September, was 1,095 Hooded Cranes, at least 9% of the global population; 25% were juveniles (6 Stein, A.C. and Nosachenko, G.A. (2012). Notes on the autumn crane migration in Muraviovka zakaznik, Amur oblast, Russian Federation. Forktail. 28: 156–158. Close ). Most of the population (c. 8000 birds) crosses the Korean Peninsula to reach wintering grounds on Kyushu, S Japan . Smaller populations winter along R Naktong near Taegu, South Korea, and in S Honshu, S Japan. Several hundred birds migrate through coastal China to wintering grounds on R Yangtze in Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces. Substantial local movements have been documented by wintering birds at L Poyang on R Yangtze (7 Harris, J., Liying, S., Higuchi, H., Ueta, M., Zhengwang, Z., Yanyun, Z. and Xijun, N. (2000). Migratory stopover and wintering locations in eastern China used by White-naped Cranes Grus vipio and Hooded Cranes G. monacha as determined by satellite tracking. Forktail. 16: 93-99. Close ). Non-breeders occasionally occur W to NE Mongolia. The species has been recorded as a vagrant on Taiwan (8 Fang, W.-H. (2004). Threatened birds in Taiwan. BirdingASIA 2: 61–65. Close ) and in Bhutan (6 Stein, A.C. and Nosachenko, G.A. (2012). Notes on the autumn crane migration in Muraviovka zakaznik, Amur oblast, Russian Federation. Forktail. 28: 156–158. Close ).

In breeding areas, feeds on aquatic plants, berries, insects, frogs and salamanders. In winter, rhizomes, seeds and grains; artificial foods, rice and other waste cereal grains in Korea and Japan . In both breeding and natural wintering grounds, forages by digging and by picking food off surface.

The Chinese wintering populations are largely found at two adjacent shallow lakes, the Shengjin and Caizi lakes, in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplains, which support two-thirds of the Chinese population. Here the main foraging habitat of wintering cranes was mudflats, where the birds relied on roots and tubers of aquatic plants, notably Vallisneria natans and Potamogeton malaianus, as well as molluscs. Severe degradation of the lake habitats has led to the birds switching to paddy fields, where they forage for spilled rice during the early and mid- wintering periods. Later in the winter, as spilled rice is depleted, the birds move to meadows as plant growth resumes (9 Zheng, M., Zhou, L., Zhao, N. and Xu, W. (2015). Effects of variation in food resources on foraging habitat use by wintering Hooded Cranes (Grus monacha). Avian Research. 6:11. Close ).

Loud , rolling and high-pitched calls .

Spring breeder; eggs laid in late Apr or early May. Nest constructed of damp moss, peat, sedge stalks and leaves, and branches of larch and birch; situated in sphagnum bog with widely scattered larch trees. Usually two eggs; incubation 27–30 days; chicks dark brown above, paler below; fledging c. 75 days. In wintering area at L Poyang, China, mean family size 3·09 birds (n = 47) (10 Shao, M.-Q., Guo, H. and Jiang, J.-H. (2014). Population sizes and group characteristics of Siberian Crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) and Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) in Poyang Lake Wetland. Zool. Res.. 35(5): 373−379. Close ). Sexually mature at 3–4 years.

VULNERABLE. CITES I. The breeding range extends across south-central and south-eastern Siberia, Russia. More recently (early 1990s) discovered breeding, in apparently very small numbers, in NE China (Heilongjiang) (11 Rank, M. (1993). Hooded Crane breeds in China. Bull. Oriental Bird Club. 18: 18. Close ), where summering birds have been observed even more recently in Inner Mongolia (without evidence of breeding) (12 Pitches, A. (1999). Hooded Crane population found in Inner Mongolia. Bull. Oriental Bird Club. 29: 16-17. Close ). The global population has been estimated at c.11,600 individuals based on winter estimates in 2012 of 1050–1150 in China and c. 10,500 in Japan, and a 2004 estimate of c. 114 individuals in Korea. Survey of lower R Yangtze floodplain in early 2004 recorded a total of 933 cranes at four sites (13 Barter, M., L. Cao, L. Chen, and G. Lei (2005). Results of a survey for waterbirds in the lower Yangtze floodplain, China, in January–February 2004. Forktail 21:1–7. Close ). Subsequent estimates suggest that global numbers may have increased to 14,000–16,000 individuals in winter 2014/2015.

Numbers are known to have risen and fallen dramatically since the 1920s. In Japan, once artificial feeding began in 1952 at Izumi, SW Kyushu, the population began to increase steadily. Izumi is by far the most important of the limited number of known wintering sites; over 80% of the global population winters there, these numbering 13,500 in 2014/15. A second wintering site, at Yashiro, Yamaguchi, has seen wintering numbers decline, from 250 in 1946 to just 18 in 2000 (14 Amano, T. (2009). Conserving bird species in Japanese farmland: past achievements and future challenges. Biological Conservation. 142(9): 1913-1921. Close ) and only seven birds in 2012. Also in Japan, around 300 were recorded in Shikoku in 2015, suggesting a possible new wintering site there. An estimated 1050–1150 birds winter in China (15 Li Fengshan, Wu Jiandong, Harris, J. and Burnham, J. (2012). Number and distribution of cranes wintering at Poyang Lake, China during 28911–28912. Chinese Birds. 3(3): 180–190. Close ), largely at two adjacent shallow lakes, the Shengjin and Caizi lakes, in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplains (16 Zhou, B., Zhou, L., Chen, J., Cheng Y. and Xu, W. (2010). Diurnal time-activity budgets of wintering Hooded Cranes (Grus monacha) in Shengjin Lake, China. Waterbirds. 33(1): 110–115. Close ). In South Korea, the numbers wintering at Suncheon Bay in South Korea have been increasing, with nearly 900 there in winter 2014/15 (17 Lee, K. (2015). Changes in crane wintering in the Republic of Korea. In: Ilyashenko EI, Winter SV, editors. Cranes of Eurasia (biology, distribution, captive breeding). Issue 5. Moscow: 356. Close ).

Although species is considered threatened, it is somewhat more secure than the other declining cranes of E Asia, due to absence of intensive human economic activity in its remote breeding grounds. Nevertheless, thought to be in moderate decline due to habitat loss at its wintering sites. Held in high regard in Japan, species nonetheless remains vulnerable to pressures associated with high human population density, including conflicts with farmers, and c. 50% of birds at Izumi are more or less wholly dependent on artificial feeding to sustain them over course of winter (14 Amano, T. (2009). Conserving bird species in Japanese farmland: past achievements and future challenges. Biological Conservation. 142(9): 1913-1921. Close ). Faces other critical threats, including drainage of wetlands and intensified logging pressure on taiga forests, alteration of wetlands in wintering areas of China, rapid development of key wintering areas in Korean Peninsula, and high risk of disease outbreak among concentrated flocks at winter feeding stations in Japan .

Legally protected throughout range and has benefited from international agreements, conferences and co-operative measures to protect cranes and wetlands in E Asia. Population surveyed annually in wintering areas. Field studies were extremely limited until late 1970s; research has since expanded, especially studies of breeding habitats, winter ecology and migration routes. Key winter habitats have been secured in several protected areas. Species is well represented in captive propagation programmes, but does not breed consistently; reintroduction programmes have not been necessary to date.