Siberian Crane
The Siberian Crane is a large migratory bird that breeds in the Arctic tundra of Russia. These cranes, also known as Snow Cranes, winter in parts of China and Iran.
Siberian Cranes have a mostly all-white plumage. Some feathers on the wings are black, but these are not always visible when the bird is standing or at rest. They have bare faces of bright red skin and dark pink legs.
Like all crane species, the Siberian Crane is omnivorous. They have a preference for plant material, feeding on seeds and roots as well as small prey items like worms and fish.
Details & Statistics
- Least Concern (LC)
- Near Threatened (NT)
- Vulnerable (VU)
- Endangered (EN)
- Critically Endangered (CR)
- Extinct in the Wild (EW)
- Extinct (EX)
Conservation
The Siberian Crane is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2015 by BirdLife International. This long-lived crane qualifies as Critically Endangered owing to the likelihood that its global population will decline extremely rapidly over the next three generations following the development of the Three Gorges Dam, a large number of other dams on the Yangtze River and its tributaries, and now a proposed dam at the outlet to the Poyang lake in China which threatens the wintering grounds used by the vast majority of individuals. If the impacts of these developments prove to be less damaging than is feared, the species may warrant downlisting.
International Names
