The number of black-necked cranes arriving in the country has been increasing over the past years. A total of 552 cranes were sighted from various sites across the country last year. This is as per the Royal Society for Protection of Nature’s (RSPN) Black-necked Crane count conducted in February this year.
Phobjikha in Wangdue Phodrang and Boomdeling in Trashi Yangtse are the two major winter habitats of black-necked cranes in the country. Besides these two places, the cranes can also be seen at Khotokha in Wangdue Phodrang, Chhumig, Tang and Chhokor in Bumthang, and Dungkar and Tangmachhu in Lhuentse.
While the arrival of the black-necked cranes has been increasing constantly over the years in Phobjikha, Boomdeling has been witnessing a decrease. Only 65 cranes were sighted in Boomdeling last winter.
“One of the major reasons of decrease is to do with habitat fragmentation through land abandonment, from natural calamities like a flash flood washing away the paddy field which is the important source of food for the black-necked cranes. So to mitigate this RSPN has been supporting local communities by the issuance of electric fencing of their paddy fields and also restoring the degraded paddy field by the flash flood. We have restored more than 20 acres of paddy field,” said Jigme Tshering, the Chief of the Communications and Education Division with the RSPN.
The RSPN has also started installing flight diverters on electric power lines near their habitats to protect the birds.
“Because of their huge body mass and very poor sight cranes cannot see the overhead cable lines and they collide. So to mitigate this, we have been installing flight diverters which have been well researched and used in other crane countries like in South Africa. What this fight diverter does is, it reflects light and flying cranes can see it and then dodge the collision,” added Jigme Tshering.
Since early 2000, RSPN has been tagging GPS transmitters on cranes to study their migratory routes and behaviour. And recently, together with the Department of Forests and Park Services, RSPN launched the Black Necked Crane Conservation Action Plan (2021-2025). The identified actions within this plan are expected to enhance knowledge in the ecology of this species and protect their habitats while improving the livelihoods of the local communities.
Kinzang Lhadon
