Метод отлова малого канадского журавля Grus сanadensis canadensis в местах гнездования

Catching of Lesser Sandhill Cranes of the Eurasian population was carried out to study the features of their migration using GPS-GSM transmitters. During 2018-2019 we caught 11 adult flying cranes using self-tightening leg loops in the Chaun Lowland, Chukotka, Eastern Siberia. The method has been proven to be the most effective and non-traumatic for catching cranes during summer. Setting of loops along the edge of feeding habitat, the lake with abundant invertebrates primarily crustaceans Conchostraca, was found to be the most effective method of capturing. The construction is cheap and easy to use, install and transport.

Red-headed Love Child

This chapter shows how the author journeyed out to Nebraska in the last days of March to witness the tail end of one of the great ornithological wonders in North America: the northward migration of sandhill cranes along the Platte River. For probably 10,000 years or more, the tall, steel-gray birds have thrown their unmusically beautiful calls across the shallow floodplain that is now in the heart of America's corn and burger-producing breadbasket. In the air they were gracefully buoyant and powerful fliers. On the ground they were just as stately — walking, stalking, dancing, and prancing as crane-kind does. When one is surrounded by cranes it is easy to understand how the family of birds have generated awe and worship around the world.

Crane, Water, Change

This chapter reflects on how the author witnessed the migration of sandhill cranes. The author's neighborhood is a rural subdivision; pocketed with wetlands, it is also a home for birds. The chapter then discusses three things that the author has learned about cranes. First, the birds that migrate over the town of Healy are lesser sandhill cranes, of fifteen crane species worldwide, the only one that breeds in Alaska. Second, cranes, like most creatures, have multiple calls. Third, the Athabascan word for crane is dildoola, lilting the onomatopoeia of their song, and the word for cranberry is dildoola baba, meaning “crane's food.” The author also argues that one cannot write about sandhill cranes without writing about wetlands.

Koan

This chapter illustrates how the author spent nights alone by Lake Wingra listening for short-eared owls and whip-poor-wills. After and before work, the author spent time drawing on the University of Wisconsin terrace, watching ducks raise their ducklings and pelicans stopping to rest on their journeys north. The chapter also describes how the author heard on the radio that the big pelican migration would be coming through Horicon Marsh. The author called in sick and drove northeast on U.S. Highway 151. However, she found out that she had missed the pelicans. Instead, she saw a flock of sandhill cranes, as well as red-winged blackbirds.

Life-history implications of migratory Lesser Sandhill Cranes replacing adjacent blocks of primaries synchronously

Using the patterns of fault bars in their primaries, we studied the mode of primary replacement in non-molting Lesser Sandhill Cranes (Antigone c. canadensis) salvaged from hunters in southwestern Saskatchewan. About 80% of their primaries are used for 2 yr and 20% for 3 yr. Primaries are replaced during the breeding season and are lost in synchronous blocks representing about half the primaries, suggesting that most adults probably can fly weakly during flight feather replacement. Cranes are large, aggressive birds, and this interesting, and undescribed mode of flight feather replacement seems adapted to the ability of adult cranes to defend their precocial chicks from predators. Strikingly, juvenile Sandhill Cranes showed no fault marks in their primaries, suggesting that their parents’ ability to protect them shields them from the fright of predator attacks, which, in most birds, causes fault bars to be more prevalent and strongly expressed in juveniles than adults. Adults show interesting variation in the number of primaries replaced annually, which seems likely related to whether or not they are caring for chicks. Further, single primaries may or may not be replaced preferentially, suggesting sensitivity to feather function. Evaluating these observations must await field studies of molting adults.

Spatial analysis of potential nesting habitat for Florida sandhill cranes

The Florida sandhill crane Antigone canadensis pratensis is state-listed as threatened in Florida, where there is an urgent need to map and quantify remaining habitat. First, we used habitat suitability index (HSI) modelling to map and assess potential nesting habitat for sandhill cranes in Florida. Second, we used spatial optimization approaches to calculate the maximum number of breeding pairs that can simultaneously occupy potential nests given that they both must be of some minimum quality and must be spaced some minimal distance apart. The mapping results reveal that nesting habitat is concentrated in the central portion of the state, with adequate brooding habitat appearing to be the most limiting factor affecting habitat suitability. Assuming nesting only occurs in habitat rated as high quality (HSI {greater than or equal to} 0.7) and spacing between adjacent nests is at least 1,000 m, we conservatively estimate that 5,540 nesting pairs of Florida sandhill cranes can potentially be supported. Additional nesting pairs may be supported in habitats of marginal (HSI {greater than or equal to} 0.3; 14,530) to moderate (HSI {greater than or equal to} 0.5; 8,723) quality. The suitability maps and breeding pair estimates can be used to identify important habitat areas to focus crane conservation efforts, determine potentially limiting habitat features across the landscape, and potentially guide future population monitoring efforts. For example, grassland/prairie restoration could be used to potential increase nesting pairs in the southern portion of the state where emergent wetlands are abundant but brooding habitat is lacking.