(From the report presented to the CMS Scientific Council, Wageningen, 3-5 June 1998)

The small remaining western/central Asian populations somehow manage to continue to maintain stable numbers, year after year:

India: Three Siberian cranes (a pair and a chick) arrived at Keoladeo National Park on 17 November 1997, and departed on 4 March 1998. This year, PTTs were placed only on two Eurasian cranes that wintered in the park (none on Siberian cranes).

Islamic Republic of Iran: As many as 8 Siberian cranes overwintered again at Fereidoonkenar and Esbaran, Iran, after arriving there on 23 October 1997. Observations were carried out by local conservationists throughout the winter. Russian scientists had hoped to repeat the highly successful effort to attach a PTT to one bird in 1996, but it proved impossible to arrange a mission to Iran.

Russian Federation: The innovative Russian field programme continued in 1997. Four Siberian crane chicks were successfully introduced into a flock of Eurasian cranes in September 1997, and the young birds were last seen about 40km from where they fledged.

Siberian crane eggs were substituted into the nests of Eurasian cranes early in the season. Later in the year, the researchers returned to the nesting area, but did not locate any sub-adult Siberian cranes. It is speculated that the birds had already left with their foster parents.

In August 1997, two pairs of Siberian cranes, each with a juvenile, were located on the breeding grounds near Uvat. One of the males had been fitted with a PTT in Iran in February 1996 and its movements tracked for several months, giving new insights into the cranes’ migration. Apparently, a year and a half later it was still in robust health. The Russians have since perfected their own, less expensive PTTs, one of which was affixed to one of the two juvenile cranes. Its southerly migration (en route to Iran) was tracked as far as the Astrakhan Nature Reserve at the northwest corner of the Caspian Sea.

Finally, on the breeding grounds of the few remaining birds that winter in India, five Siberian crane eggs were placed in the nests of Eurasian cranes. A few months later, three pairs of Eurasian cranes with fledged juvenile Siberian cranes were observed, in addition to a pair of Siberian cranes and a juvenile (most certainly the three birds that turned up in India in November 1997).

The 1998 Russian field programme has received a new injection of funding: $75,000 has been made available for the egg-substitution and chick release programmes, as well as the migration and Iranian wintering ground studies.

SECRETARIAT ACTIVITIES

In 1997, the Secretariat published and distributed the comprehensive 1997-1999 Siberian crane conservation plan, developed together with the ICF. The Scientific Council praised this action plan for being "clear, realistic, simple and easy to use, and it also showed very clearly who the different players are". The Scientific Council further approved to allocate funds to a project, developed by the International Crane Foundation, that will transform the conservation plan into a 5-year project suitable for funding by GEF.

Initial attempts to seek the approval of the Iranian authorities to organize a Range State meeting in that country in late 1997 or early 1998 were not successful. Although interest was expressed informally, the Secretariat never received an official response to its numerous interventions. Contacts have been initiated again, with a view to organizing a meeting there in late 1998, in order to review implementation of the conservation plan.

The International Crane Foundation is in the process of arranging the distribution of a Siberian crane video which was co-funded by CMS.

During the remainder of 1998, the Secretariat will compile status reports from each of the Range States.