| Species fact sheet | by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de |
| Use the GROMS database for dynamic search for migratory species, new links and references. |
| Grus grus | (Linnaus, 1758) |
| Synonym: | |
| Family: | Gruidae |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| English: | Common crane |
| French: | Grue cendrée |
| Spanish: | Grulla común |
| German: | Graukranich (There's a German version of this page!) |
| Norwegian: | Trane (There's a Norwegian version of this page!) |
| Migration: | intercontinental |
| Migration details: | “Major migration routes: from Scandinavia and N continental Europe through W Europe to wintering areas in France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, from NE Europe through C Europe and Italy to wintering areas in Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria; from E Europe and W Russia, through Balkans and across and around Black Sea to wintering areas in E Africa, Middle east and Asia Minor; from C Russia around Caspian Sea to SE Iraq and SW Iran; from W Siberia through Afghanistan and Pakistan to wintering areas in W & C India; from N China and C Siberia across China to wintering areas along middle R Yangtze; and from Xinjiang and Qinghai Provinces on Tibetan Plateau to wintering areas in S China. Small breeding population in Turkey; may breed in Azerbaijan, where until fairly recently species regularly overwintered at several sites.” From: del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (eds), 1996, Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks, 821, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, p. [...] |
| Regions: | East Asia, Europe, North Africa, North Asia, South & Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, West & Central Asia |
"With population estimates between 220,000 and 250,000, the Eurasian crane is the third most abundant crane after the sandhill crane and the demoiselle crane, and the most widely distributed (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The nominate G. g. grus breeds within most of northern Europe, G. g. lilfordi occurs mainly in Central Siberia and the Tibetan plateau. Wintering grounds are known for France, the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, South and East Asia. Although the total population is most probably increasing and therefore not globally threatened, populations in European Russia, Turkey, Western Siberia and Central Siberia are declining (Markin & Sotnikova 1995, van der Ven 1981). Only European and European Russian populations are surveyed on a regular basis (Kraft 1999), an assessment over the entire species' range should therefore be a major future task. The leading threat over the last decades has been the loss and degradation of wetlands, human pressure on wetlands in many wintering grounds, and changes in agricultural land uses (Farhadpour 1987, Harris 1992, Prange 1995). The species is included in Appendix II of the CMS and CITES, and will hopefully profit from the African-Eurasian Waterbird agreement (AEWA)."
From: Riede, K. (2001): Global Register of Migratory Species. Weltregister wandernder Tierarten. Münster (Landwirtschaftsverlag), S. 221
Further detailed information from the GROMS-database
Recommended link(s):
| USGS | U.S. Geological Survey (Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center): The Cranes – Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan – Eurasian Crane (Grus grus) |
| USGS | U.S. Geological Survey (Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center): The Cranes – Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan – Evolution and Classifiaction |
| BirdLife international | |
| Luis M. Bautista | Bautista LM, Alonso JC, Alonso JA (1998): Foraging site displacement in common crane flocks. In: Animal Behaviour (1998) 56, p. 1237-1243 (HTML-document) |
| Universidade de Vigo | "Habitat selection by flocking wintering common cranes (Grus grus) at los Pedroches valley, Spain" (pdf-document) |
| Wikipedia | (about cranes in general) |
| Wikipedia | (about the Common crane Grus grus) |
| RSPBIMAGES | The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (images of the Common crane) |
| RSPB | The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (factsheet) |
| RSPB | The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (The Great Crane Project) |
| www.blueskybirds.co.uk | (pictures) |
| The European Commission | |
| UNEP AEWA | African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement – Species Fact Sheet |
| UNEP AEWA | African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (pdf-document) |
| www.birdguides.com | |
| International Crane Foundation | |
| The Icelandic Birding Pages | |
| www.grid.unep.ch | (in English) |
| LPO | Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (Délégation Champagne Ardenne) (in French) |
| Oiseaux.net | (in English) |
| Oiseaux.net | (in French) |
| adenex.org | Asociación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza y los Recursos de Extremadura – Proyeto grulla – conservar el hábitat invernal de las grullas: un esfuerzo a compartir (lunes, 14 de mayo de 2007) (in Spanish) |
| www.vertebradosibericos.org | Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles: Grulla Común – Grus grus (Linnaeus, 1758) (in Spanish) |
| ECWG | European Crane Working Group |
| www.craneworld.de | (in English) |
| SOF | Sveriges Ornitologiska Förening (på svensk) |
| Hornbogasjön | (på svensk) |
| www.kranichzug.info | (på tysk/svensk) |
| www.birds.se | (bilder) |
Related link(s):
| www.ramsar.org | The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Wetlands in Western Asia – prepared by Parastu Mirabzadeh A. |
To gather more information about birds in general see the link collection at connotea.org: aves
Please help us by updating our link collection via connotea!
Feedback: mail to: Klaus Riede
by Ansgar Tappenhölter