Traveling in the north to see the rare Sarus Cranes. If you're interested in wildlife, take a look, I'll be posting more. David Butler | 19 Feb 2017Several days ago, members of SEAECO and FWFCC arrived in Buriram Thailand at the Sanambin Reservoir Non-Hunting Area in hopes of getting a glimpse of the rare and endangered Eastern Sarus Crane (Grus Antigone). In just two days we've had quite an experience. — with Surin Binnan.
Our guide, expert, long-time wildlife researcher and good friend Hinpha Pranprai (Neung) spends his valuable time educating us on the history, habitats and habits of Thailand's Eastern Sarus Cranes. He's likely one of the foremost experts on these Cranes. We're hoping to get a chance to see some. Neung is currently the head of production for CTV Bura Bha Co. Ltd. which will very shortly be airing a special production on the Sarus Crane.
My first view of a pair of Sarus Cranes from a far-off tower...center right is the female and through binoculars we could see her in the process of building her nest and then practicing sitting on the nest which she will soon complete. Center left, the male actually danced for us. Once completed, she will install horizontally at the bottom of the nest, several hollow twigs which will make the nest float when the monsoons arrive. She will give birth in the coming months. They are extremely shy, have keen vision, (they can see up to 500 meters away), so even from a great distance any sudden movement can alarm them. Thailands' population in the wild stands at only 38 individual birds.
As we approached the 2nd nest, I was well aware of my iPhone's limitations and by pure luck (and with very little skill, I might add )-: ), I managed to get a shot through the binoculars! You can see it's head against the green tree background. The Saras Crane is the tallest flying bird in the world with males growing up to nearly 6' tall. Like other cranes, they mate for life and in the event of one partner's death, the other will starve itself to death. This is likely one big factor for their ultimate demise in the wild. Predators include hawks and snakes, including the huge Burmese Python.
A small road surrounds the marshlands where these non migrating cranes live. If you stop, they immediately fly away, so I got these two lucky shots on a drive by... The male on the left and female on the right with a baby (barely visible) in between.
You can see in this pic, the small baby crane standing off to the right of the adult. What makes this baby crane unique is that it's been Thailand's first Sarus Crane born in the wild. The baby's name is "Coconut". 20 years ago only 4 pairs remained in captivity, with 3 pair owned by the King of Thailand and one more pair in the Korat Zoo. In the wild, this crane was extinct and so began a long process of reintroducing the Sarus Crane back into the wild. SEAECO and FWFCC have been so fortunate to get this close, but wait, stay tuned, more to come...
