Red-crowned Cranes on the Russian-Chinese Argun River and neighboring parts of the Daurian steppes

Abstract

The Trans-Baikal geographical region is located in southeastern Siberia, Russia, east to- wards Lake Baikal and include the Daurian steppes. The steppes provide important habitats for sev- eral species of cranes, including the Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis). I have studied the cranes in the area since 1988. The Red-crowned Crane mainly occurs in the Torey Depression (Torey Lake) and the Argun River, which represent the far western edge of the breeding area for the continental population of the Red-crowned Crane. There are some scattering records of the cranes in the Torey Depression from before 1990. The birds appeared regularly and bred from 2002-2007 at Torey Lake. There have been no records since 2008 due to the fact that the wetlands have dried out during the re- gional climate cycle in the Torey Depression. Three or four individual Red-crowned Cranes have been sighted in Argun in the early 2000's and then the numbers increased steadily until 2004. At the highest peak in 2004, there were at least 30 pairs of the cranes breeding in the wetlands of the river floodplain. Since then, with the reduced water flow in the Argun River and more and more wetlands drying out, the Red-crowned Crane population decreased dramatically to four or seven territories. The cranes are facing serious threats in the Argun River, such as frequent spring fires, poaching and water pollution. We need to unify efforts from both the Russian and Chinese sides to protect the cranes and their wet- land habitat in the area.