Black Crane
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Black
Crane, Grus nigra L 130-150 cm, H 130-150 cm, WS 210-230 cm, Family:
Gruidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Critically endangered (CR)
Description:
Very
large, tall bird with long neck and long legs, straight bill, and plump “tail”.
Body, neck, and head black, with stark white wings and mottled back. The
forehead and crown are covered by a patch of bare red skin which brightens
during the breeding season. Eyes yellow, bill dark gray-brown, legs black to
dark gray. In flight, neck and legs are kept outstretched and wings are mostly
white with black secondary feathers and noticeably long tertiaries which appear like a tail when wings
folded, though the true tail is also black. Juveniles are mottled rust colored.
Tallest bird on Novasola, and sometimes considered the heaviest. Significantly
larger than other long-necked birds like herons. One of two native crane
species, adults can be distinguished from Bugler Cranes by their larger size
and inverted color patterns; while the Black Crane is mostly dark with white
wings and dark legs, the Bugler Crane is mostly white with dark wings and light
legs. Juveniles are more difficult to differentiate, leg color can be helpful.
Cranes are best distinguished from other wading birds by their large size and
shape in flight: cranes keep their necks extended in flight, while herons fold
in their necks.
Voice:
Two
most common calls are a short, blasting bugle call, called a “guard call”, used
as a warning or alarm call, and a “unison call”, a courtship and breeding call
given by mated pairs in unison. They also give low pitched soft calls while
feeding near their mates. Less vocal than Bugler Crane.
Range and Habitat:
Rare,
all wild Black Cranes live in a handful of small populations whose summer
ranges are localized to pockets of northern and northeastern Novasola and
Kosatka Island, as well as along Fairweather Sound. Apart from the birds that
summer along Fairweather Sound, all birds migrate from their summer breeding
grounds to winter along Fairweather and Charlotte Sounds and in the Twin River
basin. Their preferred breeding habitats consist of wetlands, marshes, and
floodplains, and wintering habitat includes wetlands, marshes, estuaries,
mudflats, salt flats, as well as burned areas and upland meadows. During
migration they may be found in similar ecosystems as in winter, but also
commonly in rangeland, agricultural fields, grassland, and scrubland.
Discussion:
Though
extremely rare, the Black Crane, or Pied Crane, is nevertheless a well-known
bird, in part due to its long-standing association with Novasola. Featured
first on the coat of arms for the Cape George colony, the crane was officially
adopted as the Novasola state bird in 1967, not to mention the centuries of
indigenous tribal significance.
Most
Taiyalun and Yukandaluk cultures call the bird qaxcaqudgaq, translating
to “black crane”, or manamaqudgaq, meaning “Chief Crane”, while
eastern tribal languages use the term ts’eeceelax, meaning “magpie
crane” or more commonly t’ooch’lax, meaning “black crane”. Both endemic
crane species are culturally important to indigenous Novasolans, but the Black
Crane is particularly significant and plays a major role in native storytelling,
mythology, and art, especially among prairie tribes. Black Cranes are seen as
signs of nobility, leadership, and even the embodiment of ancestral chiefs. Crane
Dances are common ritual ceremonies which invoke the breeding displays of
cranes where participants are dressed in elaborate crane feather costumes. When
Francisco Ricci mapped Novasola’s coastline in 1760, his crew made sporadic
landfall and made numerous references to large, black-and-white birds or
“piebald fowl” and Ricci himself wrote about observing mixed flocks of Black
and Bugler Cranes on two occasions. When Morgan Fairweather established the
colony of Cape George his crews encountered many cranes throughout the coastal
marshes. So impressed by the birds and their seeming abundance, Fairweather adopted
both crane species for the colony’s coat of arms. The naturalist George York
Baker formally described the Black Crane for science in 1780.
Critically
endangered, Black Cranes have undergone severe population declines in the past
two centuries due to overhunting and habitat destruction, but they are thought
to have always been rather rare with a naturally low global population. Early
accounts of crane population numbers by European colonists were likely greatly
overestimated, as they rarely took the bird’s migratory behavior int account.
Crane hunting was common, and even when bans were put in place, poaching of
cranes for feathers continued. Meanwhile, wetlands and prairie waterholes were
disproportionately affected by development. By 1945, the Black Crane was nearly
extinct, with an estimated total population of 32 individuals. Across the world
cranes have faced similar stories. The closely related Whooping Crane of the
mainland is one of the rarest birds in North America, and the rarest of all
cranes, with an estimated total population of less than 800, rebounding from a
low of only 15 individuals in the 1940s, and the Siberian Crane is similarly
endangered with an estimated 3,500 remaining. On Novasola, strict protections
and captive breeding programs have helped the Black Crane rebound somewhat,
with a current wild population of approximately 1,600 individuals, roughly a sixth
of the estimated pre-colonial number. Though still endangered and one of the
rarer endemic birds, they are far from the most threatened of native birds,
with many other Novasolan endemics presumed extinct. Strengthened by their
status as the state bird, Black Cranes are prominent mascots for conservation
on Novasola.
In
winter Black Cranes can be found in wetlands, salt marshes, estuaries, coastal
flats, meadows, clearings, and occasionally in post-fire areas and flooded ag
fields. They are most easily observed in the winter when they migrate to the
Twin River and Charlotte Sound watersheds. During the spring and fall they
migrate from Charlotte and Fairweather Sounds to isolated pockets of semi-wooded
wetland in the north where they nest in raised areas or islands within wetlands
surrounded by taller reeds, grasses, or other vegetation, stopping along the
way in wetlands and grasslands throughout the central prairie and east coast,
though some birds remain near Fairweather Sound year-round. These migration
routes are likely similar to historic, pre-colonial routes. Because migration
routes are learned and not instinctual in cranes, it is thought that all modern
Black Cranes learned these routes from past generations dating back to the
original 32 birds.
Naturally,
the breeding behaviors of Black Cranes have been widely researched. Monogamous,
Black Cranes mate for life and remain with their partner throughout the year.
During the breeding season cranes engage in elaborate courtship displays called
dances. Both members of the pair will perform energetic leaps and jumps, run in
circles, stomp their feet, flap their wings, and toss back their heads with
curved necks and raised wings, all the while giving loud, trumpeting calls.
These dances are obvious and may last several minutes. Both males and females
dance, and both will help build the nest and raise chicks. Only females
incubate eggs, while the male defends the territory from other cranes.
The
Black Crane’s diet consists of invertebrates, small vertebrates, and plant
matter. They prefer insects, berries, seeds, roots, mollusks, crustaceans,
amphibians, small reptiles, and small fish. They forage on the ground or in
shallow water by probing the surface or soil with their bills or feet for
vegetation or prey and will impale larger prey with their bills. Unlike herons
which wait patiently and motionless to ambush prey, Black Cranes stalk slowly
but at a steady pace, eventually covering great areas on foot.
Black
Cranes are the tallest species of bird native to Novasola, and the second
tallest in North America. Depending on the metric used, they may also be
considered the heaviest native bird, certainly in the top five, and compete
most closely with Bugler Cranes. Outside of the egg-laying season, Black Cranes
may be found in small flocks or mixed among larger flocks of Bugler Cranes,
with which they often share habitat. Bugler Cranes are Novasola’s other endemic
crane species, which naturally share many commonalities with the Black Crane,
and are far more abundant. Both species can be found flocked together, but
their differences in size, plumage, and calls help distinguish them. Bugler
Cranes have been used in captive rearing programs as surrogate parents for
Black Crane chicks, which has led some conservationists to speculate that many
of the behaviors exhibited by the modern Black Crane population may have been
introduced by or learned from those Bugler surrogates.
Having
already been described in 1780, the Black Crane was well-known to Richard
Reichwald by the time of the NRC expeditions. However, they were already far
rarer, and there were likely fewer Black Cranes surviving in 1902 than now, so
Reichwald had little in the way of personal encounters or observations off
which to base any writings. Nevertheless, he gathered much information on them
to complete his Native Birds of Novasola, which he felt would be unfinished
without an entry for the Pied Crane, and after having observed none during the
NRC expeditions he spent the next eight years searching for them. By 1912 and
the publishing of his book, Reichwald had observed the Black Crane only twice.
“The
lands to the north of the bay abound with game and fowl of the most elegant
variety. Most prominent among them are the large, piebald cranes which populate
the river outlets and grassy flats. They are much outnumbered by a second,
smaller crane of lighter plumage, which is less impressive in stature but
wholly more vociferous. The piebald fowl is of such size that one may stand on
even footing with a man to face him and match his gaze.” – Ship log fragment,
Francisco Ricci voyage, 1760. Translated from Italian.
“The
camp is located on a long, narrow arm of land extending east and northwards into
the sea, creating a shallow bay to its west. The western and southern coasts of
the peninsula are foliated by dense stands of imposing and grand conifers and
meet the sea with rocky faces, while the inner coasts slope gently to the bay. The
lower edges of this bay consist mostly of flooded lowlands and marshes populated
densely by reeds and grasses which give way to coastal heath and stunted evergreens.
Seafowl proliferate in these marshes, and all are overshadowed by the lordly character
of the numerous cranes. Boldly patterned in black and white, the majesty and
grandeur of these birds are matched nearly by their multitude, for this is a
land of cranes, where at times flocks may extend to the horizon and may be
heard from an impressive and perhaps unmatched distance.” – Sir Morgan
Fairweather, 1780
“The
Pied Crane, whose reputation far proceeds it, is disastrously uncommon. In a
decade of devoted study of Novasolan bird life, I have but thrice encountered
this most noble of fowl, and then only at great exertion and strife. For
myself, just as for any devoted admirer, however, this struggle serves only to
greater magnify the joyous rapture felt when finally observing living cranes.
Emanating a grace and majesty unmatched by any native fowl, Pied Cranes preside
over their lands with stately postures and impressive stature.
…
The
calls of the Pied Crane match the grandeur of the bird. They produce loud,
echoing cries that may carry for great distances, perhaps even miles, over open
terrain like the swamps and grasslands they inhabit. Though not as constantly
vocal as the Buglers, Pied Cranes have a more complex voice, and one more pleasant
to the fortunate ear.
…
Their
serene demeanors are punctuated with bouts of great energy and excitement when
mated pairs perform courtship dances of the most elaborate spectacle. Famed are
these dances, composed of fantastic acrobatics, leaps, and wing spreads, all
the while necks arched and bills raised to the heavens. So unforgettable are
these displays that local tribesmen across the territory have made rituals from
them, mimicking their movements and adornments for the benefit of their
clansmen.” – Native Birds of Novasola, 1912
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| Mating Black Cranes engaging in a courtship dance. Illustration provided by the Museum of Novasola. |