The Story
This is a Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) that I photographed at the Zhangye National Wetland Park in Zhangye, Gansu, China on March 28, 2018. It is named for the patch of bare red skin on its crown, which gets brighter in the breeding season. It is snow white with black secondaries, which can look like a black tail when the bird is standing. In parts of its range it is a symbol of luck, longevity and fidelity. IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable. Zhangye’s wetlands are a stopover on the Central Asian flyway, one of the world’s major bird migration routes.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW, at 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. The wetland’s managers are working to restore habitat that farming and falling water tables have degraded.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) belongs to the family Gruidae (Cranes) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List