Black-Necked Crane

The scientific name of Black-Necked Crane is Grus Nigricollis (Latin), and belongs to the Gruidae family of Gruiformes order. Black-necked Crane is a large-size wading bird, with a full body-length of around 120 centimeters. The color of its body ranges from silver gray to approximately white, with dotted brown brims.

Status:

Black-Necked Crane has been listed as vulnerably endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1994. In China, there are 3,562 birds in Yunnan and western Guizhou in 2003 and 6940 of them in Tibet in 2007.

Geographic Distribution:

Black-necked Crane usually hibernates in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and breeds in Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu provinces in China and the bird can also be found in countries including Bhutan, India and Vietnam.

You may not know:

It is the only crane species growing and breeding in tableland, inhabiting in plateaus at an elevation of 2,500 to 5,000 meters. It usually lives in swampland, lake and overflow areas, feeding on green plant roots and sprouts, as well as mollusks, insects, batrachia, fishes, etc.

Every March, it leaves Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the place where it hibernates, and flies northward to the prairies and marshy terrain of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and begins to breed in late April. The nests are usually built on grass piers or mud piers in marshy terrain with higher hypsography. The average number of eggs per breed is 2, and the incubation period lasts about 31 to 33 days.