Crane Days in Southern Yakutia

By Masha Vladimirtseva

This fall is very special because of two young Siberian Cranes who have their special task to carry PTTs (satellite transmitters for tracking the birds) and show their migration routes to the world.

Three people from our Institute went to southern Yakutia to watch and count Siberian Cranes along the flyway and transit stops in middle to late September. But I also had another goal – the education work in local schools and participation in Crane Days of the local schools. On September 25, we went to the school in Petropavlosk, and on September 26, we visited a school in Ust-Maya. More than 100 students were involved in the Crane Day activities.

There were several very fascinating shows in both schools performed by the students (below), and in Ust-Maya a group of older people from the settlement participated in the celebration. I gave my presentation on our Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World project. The students especially liked the Siberian Crane calls that I had taped at the International Crane Foundation – the cranes call very loudly!



In Ust-Maya we also discussed with teachers the summer camp held at the Chabda Resource Reserve in 2008. Students from the Ust-Maya school had a great experience to spend time on the nesting territory of the Hooded Crane and transit territory of the Siberian Crane. The students could watch Hooded Cranes flying over the Chabda Reserve building and hear the cranes’ calls. They liked the wooden models of Siberian Cranes made by ornithologist Vasily Okoneshnikov to attract real cranes to the feeding grounds during their migration.

On September 28-30, using bear trails in the tightly grown forest, we visited two bird observation points. The observation areas were built by inspector Peter Tokumov, who monitors the Siberian Crane migration every fall and spring. The first was a very high (15 m) wooden ladder with a small viewing deck, built on a hill. The second was a small blind for hiding from the wind made from stones and built on another hill. Both observation points were built about 4 km from each other, on either side of the Siberian Crane flyway.

On October 1, we conducted a Crane Day celebration in the Okhotski Perevoz school. The settlement is on both banks of the Aldan River and to reach the school we had to be transported to the right bank. This school includes just 25 students. We presented a “Crane Day” banner to the school. We showed them the Crane Day presentation and many crane pictures and videos, and talked with them. All of the students see migrating cranes every fall and spring. All of the children were rewarded with pins, stickers and posters. The young artists who presented their pictures for the website were rewarded with books and and other prizes.

That night, we saw our first flock of seven Siberian Cranes, with two young. On October 2 we saw two flocks of nine and 19 Siberian Cranes. We saw many more cranes the next day. While returning to the school, we met three local men who also counted cranes. They wrote digits (counting results) carved with a knife on fire wood. In the school, we showed our just taken photos to the children. Some of them had seen these birds, also. We continued to count Siberian Cranes flying over Okhotski Perevoz and counted 798 individuals. Some people could see these cranes far from the settlement.