Ever heard of Black-necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis) summer roosting in Bhutan? Except for few stray or injured individuals, Black-necked Cranes (BNC) are usually a winter visitors to Bhutan. They fly in late October and stay until February, before they migrate to their summer roosting areas in North.
However, a pair of BNC has reported to have broken the rule choosing to stay back permanently in Bhutan. Dr. Sherub, an ornithologist with Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Conservation and Research (UWICER) has said that this is a first record of a breeding pair summer roosting in the country.
It was first reported in 2021, when a herder, Kota sighted a pair. He has even recorded a photo evidence. JKSNR fielded a team to verify the claim and was confirmed about the the first-ever sighting of the bird at the elevation of 4108 masl at Haa la Jula and Lhangzab (Lat: 27.429437700N; Lon: 89.134475880 E) area of the Strict Nature Reserve . It also verified that the bird uses Bhutan not only as wintering habitat but also as summer breeding habitat.
Closely following that, a team of Foresters recently on Snow leopard camera trapping also sighted the birds, further confirming its presence in the reserve area. “The bird has been sighted for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) which is kind of confirmatory message that BNC uses Bhutan as both winter and summer habitat” states the report.
JKSNR stated that the management is excited and will be closely monitoring and enhancing the surveillance of the birds during summer so that the management will be able to put conservation efforts in place to protect the BNC. “And also, JKSNR will work in collaboration with herders to protect the BNC and has planned to visit the sites in coming days with RSPN to gather more information and ascertain the presence and usage of area by BNC as summer breeding habitat.”
Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) is listed as ‘Near Threatened’ in IUCN Red List is one of the legally protected bird species in Bhutan by listing in Schedule-I of Forest and Nature Conservation Act, 1995. Three major wintering habitats in Bhutan are Phobjikha and Khotokha valleys in Wangduephodrang, Bumdelling in Trashiyangtse and Bumthang. In the recent years, isolated sightings of Black-necked Cranes were reported by the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) from various Dzongkhags viz., Gelephu, Paro, Tashigang, Punakha, Thimphu, Trongsa and Lhuentse.
