White-Naped Crane

     The White-Naped Crane is a relatively large bird in the Crane family. This elegant species is native to Northern Mongolia, southern Siberia, Korea, Japan and central China. The White-Naped crane is highly appraised in its land of origin, and people of the Korean peninsula consider it a symbol of peace.

     The White-Naped crane is identifiable by the large circle of bare, red skin around its eyes, and the white nape (as the name indicates). It has slate-grey feathers that cover most of the body, silver-grey wing coverts, and dark-pinkish legs. The White-Naped crane has also a white neck, with a vertical grey area that gives the bird its distinctive appearance. This bird reaches a length of 125 – 230 cm, and has a wingspan of 200 – 210 cm.

     White-Naped cranes breed in north-eastern Mongolia, north-eastern China, and adjacent areas of south-eastern Russia. They migrate along the Songnen Plain and the Gulf of Bohai to its wintering grounds in the Yangtze basin in China, the demilitarised zone between North Korea and South Korea, and in Izumi, Japan.

     A White-Naped crane’s pair produces 1 or 2 eggs mid-April and mid-May. During the 28 – 32 days of incubation, the pair will vigorously defend the territory around the nest. White-Naped chicks fledge after 70 – 75 days, and reach sexual maturity in their third or fourth year.