"The Mystery of the Missing Siberians"

Almost 20 years ago, a small flock of Siberian Cranes was discovered spending the winter on the Caspian lowlands of northern Iran. In the early years as many as 12 were counted but during the past decade there have only been 9-10 including one or two juveniles. Although the population reproduces, it does not increase. Miraculously, it survives. The migration route and the breeding grounds have remained a mystery.

Throughout the winter, the cranes separate as pairs and family groups on flooded rice fields where farmers live-trap wild ducks from October through March. Catches depend on baiting the ducks and encouraging them peacefully to fly into the traps. By chance, larger birds like cranes were protected by the trappers who keep intruders away. Just before the waterfowl migrate, a "shoot out" disrupts a peace normally punctuated only by the flute-like calls of the Siberian Cranes. Usually, however, the cranes migrate a few days before the shoot out.

The Russians have known for decades that small numbers of Siberian Cranes are occasionally spotted on spring migration west of the Caspian Sea and then on wetlands of the Volga delta on the north-west Caspian. The cranes continued north and disappeared.

In recent years, Japanese researchers have attached a small Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT) weighing less than 100 grams to endangered cranes in east Asia. Data from the NOAA satellite is processed in France and the USA revealing the migration routes, resting areas, breeding and wintering grounds for various populationsinformation vital to conservation.

ICF has been involved in Siberian crane conservation for many years, but satellite tracking only became possible when the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) joined the effort. Through support of NEC Corporation and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), WBSJ provided four satellite radios for attachment to Siberian Cranes in Iran. There were two big challenges getting researchers to Iran and catching the cranes without disrupting the duck trapping.

During the winter of 1994-95, the Iran Department of the Environment invited George Archibald to Iran to release two captive-produced Siberians with the wild cranes and to capture two wild cranes. Satellite radios would be attached to all four birds. Unfortunately, a delayed visa invitation forced the two cranes and George to remain in Baraboo. Then the US Government placed a ban on the export to Iran of all materials, except human body parts needed for medical reasons. Siberian Cranes did not qualify.

Through the assistance of the secretariat of the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species, headquartered in Germany, a new plan was implemented the following winter. Communication with Iran would be from Germany, and a Russian crane researcher, Dr. Yuri Markin, would release captive-reared cranes in Iran and capture and mark the wild cranes. Through the fine efforts of the office of Wisconsin's Senator Herbert Kohl, the US government granted an exemption for the export of the live Siberian Cranes. Lufthansa German Airlines provided complimentary passage for the precious cargo from Chicago to Tehran. A grant from the National Wildlife Federation allowed Yuri Markin to join both the ICF cranes and the wild cranes in Iran and to begin the work.

The duck trappers would not allow Yuri and his Iranian colleague, Mr. Bahrami Nasab of the Department of the Environment, to work inside the duck trapping area where the wild Siberian Cranes spent most of their time. Consequently, just outside the hunting area, but still on wide open expanses of rice fields, Yuri constructed two small netted pensone for each of the two captive cranes. He planned to introduce these birds gradually to their new surrounding. The calls of the captive cranes were heard by the wild cranes. One wild family, including a pair and their juvenile, flew near the cage of a captive crane. The wild male crane tried to attack the captive bird. By modifying the cage, Yuri was able to trap a territorial and aggressive wild male. Color bands and a satellite radio were attached and the bird was soon released.

Unfortunately, Yuri did not have time or opportunity to capture another wild crane. Satellite radios were attached to the two captive cranes, and the birds were released. The satellite radios allowed researchers to follow the two ICF Siberian Cranes and the marked wild crane. Unfortunately, the ICF cranes failed either to join the wild cranes or to migrate. One was captured placed in the Pardisan Park in Tehran. The captive cranes had proved vital in the capture of the wild crane, and may be used to lure wild cranes into traps in the future.

The wild crane carrying the PTT migrated west across the Caspian lowlands, across Azerbaijan, Chechnya, and then to the delta of the Volga. There it rested for 17 days before continuing northwest to a presumed breeding area just east of the Ural Mountains and northwest of the city of Tyumen.

From a helicopter, researchers Alexander Sorokin and Yuri Markin searched the wetlands for white cranes. Although the high expense of helicopter work limited surveys to just hours, a family of breeding Siberian Cranes was located. They had a chick! The female, moulting and flightless, was captured and color-banded. Unfortunately, the color-banded male that carried the satellite radio from Iran was not located. The satellite informs us that he summered in that region in 1996 we hope with his mate and a new chick.

The word for Siberian Crane in Russian is "sterkh." A mountain near the wetland where the cranes are breeding is called Sterkh Mountain, and several of the local people living in that region have the surname "Sterkh." These people, however, were unaware of the Siberian Cranes. Perhaps conservation of the last few Siberian Cranes on the breeding grounds, along their newly-charted migration route, as well as in Iran, will result in the slow recovery of this remnant flock. A scientific report on the satellite tracking of the Iranian Siberian Crane is under preparation for publication by WBSJ.

The preceding article first appeared in the November 1996 issue of The ICF Bugle. It is reproduced here with the permission of the authors: Dr. George Archibald, Director of the International Crane Foundation and Dr. Yutaka Kanai, Deputy Director, Research Center, Wild Bird Society of Japan.