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Federally Endangered White-Naped Cranes

Scientific Name Grus vipio

Photo Taken At Columbus Zoo, Columbus, Ohio, USA

IUCN Red List Status Vulnerable

Population

The total population is estimated at 6250-6750 individuals, based on recent counts of 500-1,000 individuals wintering in China, and an estimate of 5,750 wintering in Korea/Japan (based on coordinated counts from winters 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 (L Kisup and Y. Haraguchi pers comm., Harris and Mirande in prep.). Double counting is possible between the Korean sites and Japanese sites due to movement of birds during the wintering period, and counts therefore require close coordination. Read More

Threats

The loss of wetlands to agricultural expansion and growing human demand for water, on both breeding and wintering grounds, is the main threat (Harris and Mirande in prep). Between 2000 and 2009, wetland loss in the western (Daurian) part of the range has been greatly exacerbated by prolonged drought conditions. This drought is part of a climatic cycle, and is predicted to persist until 2015 (O. Gorosko in litt. 2007). Breeding birds are also threatened by steppe fires, whilst livestock grazing may cause disturbance and reduce the availability of suitable nesting habitat (Bradter et al. 2005). In its China wintering ... Read More

Geographic Range

Antigone vipio breeds in Dauria on the border of Russia, Mongolia and China, the Amur and Ussuri basins on the Sino-Russian border and the Songnen and Sanjiang plains, China. It migrates along the Songnen plain and Gulf of Bohai to its wintering grounds in the Yangtze basin, now almost entirely at Poyang Hu (c.500-1000), along the Korean peninsula to the Demilitarized Zone in North Korea/South Korea, mainly Cholwon (c.1,900 individuals), and to southern Kyushu in Japan. Three stop over sites are used regularly; Duolun in Inner Mongolia, Cangzhou (Hebei)/Beidagang (Tianjin) along Bohai Bay and the Yellow River Delta National Nature ... Read More

Habitat

It breeds in the wetlands of steppe and forest-steppe zones, in grassy marshes, wet sedge-meadows and reedbeds in broad river valleys, lake depressions and boggy upland wetlands, preferring areas where its nest can be concealed and there is little grazing pressure (Bradter et al. 2007). Egg incubation in Muraviovka Park, southeast Russia was found to be 33-35 days and hatching success 56.3%. Only females were found to brood chicks (Kitagawa 2014). Its preferred habitats are less aquatic than for the Red-crowned Crane found over much of the same breeding range. In winter, it frequents freshwater lakes, farmland and occasionally coastal ... Read More

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RECENTLY ADDED SPECIES

BirdLife International 2016. Antigone vipio. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22692073A93336122. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692073A93336122.en

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