Siberian Crane Spring Migration Update

This week we received new location data from the Siberian Crane, Bai He, that we are tracking in eastern China. We last received data from Bai He's transmitter on March 5 from the wintering grounds in the Poyang Lake Basin. On March 17 we received new data placing Bai He in eastern China in Hebei Province, approximately 1300 km (808 miles) from the previous location! We believe that Bai He began migration sometime between the 3rd and 17th (due to signal interference in eastern China, we are uncertain when Bai He left the wintering area). We are hopeful that we will continue to receive periodic signals from Bai He's transmitter, so that we can continue to follow his northern migration.

Meanwhile, in late February Neya, the Siberian Crane that was released this winter in northern Iran, moved approximately 240 km (149 miles) northwest from her wintering site. Unfortunately, we have not received any new location data from her transmitter since March 1, 2009.

Click on the image to the right to view an updated map of the spring migration.

World Water Day

Last month we shared information about World Wetlands Day, an annual celebration of our global wetlands. On March 22 the United Nations is sponsoring World Water Day focusing on our global fresh water resources. This year's theme is Shared Water - Shared Opportunities and focuses on transboundary water resources, such as the lakes or rivers and even underground aquifers that cross political boundaries. To learn more about this event, visit the World Water Day website. You can download a World Water Day video focusing on the Nile River, posters, send a World Water Day e-card and view an online image gallery.

Similar to our water resources, cranes also cross political boundaries during their annual migrations, and we are waiting to see where our two banded Siberian Cranes migrate this spring. We have received limited location data from both cranes over the past two weeks. Our last location for Neya, the crane in Iran, was approx. 240 km to the northwest of her release site, which may indicate that she has started to migrate (click on the map to the right to view a map of the cranes' current locations). We're hopeful that we will receive new data from her transmitter, so that we can learn where she will spend the spring and summer. Meanwhile, we are also waiting to confirm if Bai He, our banded Siberian Crane wintering in the Poyang Lake Basin, has begun his migration. We will post updates on the cranes' locations as we learn more.


We've received requests from you for images of the three white cranes (Whooping, Siberian and Red-crowned Cranes) to incorporate into your classroom activities. You can download images on the International Crane Foundation's online photo gallery, and I wanted to pass along a link for a site that I recently discovered - ARKive: Images of life on Earth. The site includes background information, images and videos of our three white cranes. Click on the links below to view these pages*

Whooping Crane

Siberian Crane

Red-crowned Crane

*Note that according to the ARKive website "Teachers, educators, researchers and students may incorporate these materials [images and video] into their lesson plans, presentations, work sheets, projects etc in hard copy and digital format for internal educational use."