Picture Courtesy:RSPN
The Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) recorded the arrival of 239 black-necked cranes in the country to date, this year. The RSPN has tagged nine cranes with Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) transmitter so far as a part of their conservation project. According to RSPN officials, two cranes tagged with GSM transmitter are among the cranes arrived in the country this year.
The two cranes with GSM transmitter are in Phobjikha. The birds arrived in the country, yesterday. Through the transmitter, officials learnt that they flew North-West of Bhutan to Tibet to spend the rest of the year around a lake.
“We are studying their migratory patterns, migratory routes and their summer habitats in Tibet. We want to know where exactly our cranes breed in summer so that in the future we can maybe collaborate, and basically share information to see what conservation management they have because conversation program in Bhutan alone is not enough,” said Jigme Tshering, the Chief of the Communications and Education Division with the RSPN.
Meanwhile, for the first time, six black-necked cranes were spotted in Pemathang Gewog under Samdrup Jongkhar, yesterday.
Villagers who spotted the endangered birds say, the cranes stayed on the field for about five minutes before it flew away. Forest officials of the district said the birds might have landed mistakenly during the time of migration.
According to the RSPN officials, there are certain reasons for such incidences like a disruption in their migration due to weather or predators that depend on such migration.
“Black-necked cranes are opportunist, meaning they explore places where they can find food, safe roosting areas and safe foraging areas. If you look at the distribution of cranes globally, they are also found in certain hot places. So the recent citing in Samdrup Jongkhar is not a big surprise. If you look at the place there, it’s all paddy fields where they can find dropped grains,” the chief added.
Black Necked Crane, Bhutan’s special winter visitor starts flying into the country towards the end of October. So far from the total of 239 birds recorded in the country, 206 cranes are in Phobjikha with 23 in Bumdeling, six in Bumthang Chumey, and two each in Dungkar and Tangmachhu in Lhuentse.
Kinley Dem
