Organic farms help Thailand welcome cranes lost for 50 years

[snoop1130]

Organic farms help Thailand welcome cranes lost for 50 years 

MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press

 

BURIRAM, Thailand (AP) — A fuzzy-headed baby sarus crane hatched on a rural farm this fall offers a glimmer of hope for wildlife conservationists, organic farming advocates and a nation grieving after the death of their beloved king. That's because this chubby chick named Rice is the first of its auspicious species to survive after hatching in the wild in Thailand in 50 years.

The tallest flying birds in the world, 70 incubator-hatched, hand-fed sarus cranes have been raised and released over the past five years in Thailand's farm-rich northeast province of Buriram, whooping their startling two-toned song at dawn.

"The older generations told us about these cranes, they said they bring luck, but when I actually saw one in my field I was so excited," village leader Thongpoon Unjit said.

He and dozens of other farmers stopped using pesticides and parked their noisy tractors to help the birds survive. They hand-harvest for acres and leave large swaths untouched around nests.

Already the birds have brought good fortune: The farmers' organic rice sells for a premium at Bangkok supermarkets.

Forty-two of the cranes released in the wild have survived so far, and eight are living in monogamous pairs. But until now none have managed to successfully reproduce. Rice, now about a month old, likely pecked its little sibling to death, but that's to be expected, say the experts.

"It's been really fun to watch this family," said visiting ornithologist George Archibald, spying on the yellow-brown hatchling and its magenta-topped parents through a spotting scope. "I've been really touched by the intimacy of the parents to their juvenile. They're just continually watching that chick."

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-11-14

[Mr Wimpy]

A nice bit of positive news for a change

[lonewolf99]

Mmmmm Aroi....

[phantomfiddler]

"Pecked it,s little siblings to death ? To be expected ?" What horrible little birds are these, and no way would I crane my neck to get a peek at one of these evil eyed little avian monsters !

[Muhendis]

For those of us that like to see such things, I have attached a picture of a pair of Sarus cranes that are frequent visitors to my farm. The picture was taken just over a year ago. The birds are being reintroduced into Thailand from Cambodia and are being reared in a sanctuary about 10 Km south of Buri Ram. When you see them flying past they are magnificent with a wingspan in the order of four metres.

[Ombra]

24 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

For those of us that like to see such things, I have attached a picture of a pair of Sarus cranes that are frequent visitors to my farm. The picture was taken just over a year ago. The birds are being reintroduced into Thailand from Cambodia and are being reared in a sanctuary about 10 Km south of Buri Ram. When you see them flying past they are magnificent with a wingspan in the order of four metres.

 

[Toknarok]

24 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

For those of us that like to see such things, I have attached a picture of a pair of Sarus cranes that are frequent visitors to my farm. The picture was taken just over a year ago. The birds are being reintroduced into Thailand from Cambodia and are being reared in a sanctuary about 10 Km south of Buri Ram. When you see them flying past they are magnificent with a wingspan in the order of four metres.

             Would that be the sanctuary next to the big lake South of Buriram?

[Muhendis]

The sanctuary is indeed the lake/reservoir  to the south of Buri Ram. There is a large sign at the side of the road on the right driving south which announces the sanctuary. It (the sanctuary) is run by the Mahidol University of Bangkok and there are people on site who will happily give free instruction on how to make your farm organic. The two birds in the picture are a breeding pair. Sarus cranes are completely monogamous and will stay together for life. The taller of the two birds is around 1.7 metres tall so it is a fully grown adult.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Muhendis
Correction

[Khon Kaen Dave]

They are pretty popular in Japan as well,There was a japanese/Thai student at our school,that gave a talk on the(and the Heron) for part of her final's

The Japanese tend to revere these birds.They are painted on walls,sung about in songs,even cited in poetry.There is even a Geisha riddle about them.

"The midnight Crane,

revealed by the Harvest moon,

Which of the two,

is the lovelier?

'

(Answer's on a postcard please)

[monkey4u]

Be careful when viewing Thai cranes

They sometimes fall over with unskilled operators

OOPS wrong crane 

[garyk]

Spent about a week there a few months ago. Great job getting these birds back in the wild. Here is a pic I took out in the the field by the lake.

 

 

[fruitman]

f

Those cranes look like the ones who ate the fish out of my pond.

 

I would love to see these in my garden, the hornbills. There's one in Nong Nooch who sits alone all day in a small cage. 

[Muhendis]

2 hours ago, garyk said:

Spent about a week there a few months ago. Great job getting these birds back in the wild. Here is a pic I took out in the the field by the lake.

 

 

That's an intriguing picture you took there garyk. It looks exactly like the one on the birdsthatfart.com web site and the arrangement of the rings is..........strange.  The normal arrangement of the rings is three colour coded rings on the right leg only (yellow, green and black). This enables easy identification of each bird from a distance. The crane in the (birdsthatfart.com) picture has a ring on the left leg also. Since you spent a whole week there, did they happen to mention the significance of the other ring?

[garyk]

Muhendis. No, I saw the people looking after them several times but never asked any questions.

I go threw that area on my way to Cambodia all the time. Next time I go I will ask.

Took this about 2 KM. from the dirt road toward the lake on afternoon. Easy to take.

All the best, Gary

Edited November 15, 2016 by garyk

[Beats56]

I don't know what I saw the other day about 5 or 6 big birds doing a perfect circle in the air. Tgf told me the name but  I don't understand the word. something like ewow. 

 

[jerojero]

Way to go, farmers! Excellent!

[kannot]

On 11/15/2016 at 10:08 AM, Muhendis said:

For those of us that like to see such things, I have attached a picture of a pair of Sarus cranes that are frequent visitors to my farm. The picture was taken just over a year ago. The birds are being reintroduced into Thailand from Cambodia and are being reared in a sanctuary about 10 Km south of Buri Ram. When you see them flying past they are magnificent with a wingspan in the order of four metres.

2.4m  wingspan

[Muhendis]

Thanks Kannot for your correction. Although the general view is 2.8 metres when they fly overhead it seems a whole lot more.

[Speedo1968]

Beautiful birds and wonderful news.

Thank you for the info and photos.

 

They look a bit like the "brolga" from Australia, similar life style too.  

Although the general height of a brolga is said to be 1.3 metres I saw a pair, walking down a dusty road in a very,

very small outback town in 1970, the larger was well over 1.7 metres ( my height ).

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, Speedo1968 said:

Beautiful birds and wonderful news.

Thank you for the info and photos.

 

They look a bit like the "brolga" from Australia, similar life style too.  

Although the general height of a brolga is said to be 1.3 metres I saw a pair, walking down a dusty road in a very,

very small outback town in 1970, the larger was well over 1.7 metres ( my height ).

I had to look up the Brolga on the internet. It could be mistaken for the Sarus crane from a distance. It is of the same family as are all cranes (except the ones that fall over in Thailand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(bird) The Sarus crane can also be found in northern australia. A census has been done but I can't remember the numbers and I'm too lazy to look it up.

I'm no ornithologist but I am pleased to see so many different species that visit my farm. I have a relatively organic farm with plenty of insect and small mammal life and a wide variety of flora (weeds). I am completely surrounded by sugarcane growers whose crop is a desert for wildlife. I like to think of my farm as an oasis for the wildlife community.

[namoi]

i grew up north west nsw and there are many Brolgas native to the area and are renowned for the dancing during mating season, any idea of the distance the Sarus travel as i saw 5 large crane like birds fly over long 4 days ago, by the time i grabbed my camera they were out of site, they looked spectacular flying over whatever they were

[Muhendis]

15 hours ago, namoi said:

i grew up north west nsw and there are many Brolgas native to the area and are renowned for the dancing during mating season, any idea of the distance the Sarus travel as i saw 5 large crane like birds fly over long 4 days ago, by the time i grabbed my camera they were out of site, they looked spectacular flying over whatever they were

I don't know how far the Sarus crane will travel but at a guess I would say they are comfortable within a 15Km radius of their territory. I believe they can cover considerable distances until they find a suitable habitat where they will settle down for family life. " Sarus cranes are mostly non-migratory in India, but often make short seasonal movements between dry and wet season habitats in Southeast Asia and Australia. " This is a quotation from the following web site which I've had a look at and find quite interesting. https://www.savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/sarus-crane/

[namoi]

interesting reading as i have always believed that australia had no crane species that were native

[Speedo1968]

22 hours ago, Muhendis said:

I had to look up the Brolga on the internet. It could be mistaken for the Sarus crane from a distance. It is of the same family as are all cranes (except the ones that fall over in Thailand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(bird) The Sarus crane can also be found in northern australia. A census has been done but I can't remember the numbers and I'm too lazy to look it up.

I'm no ornithologist but I am pleased to see so many different species that visit my farm. I have a relatively organic farm with plenty of insect and small mammal life and a wide variety of flora (weeds). I am completely surrounded by sugarcane growers whose crop is a desert for wildlife. I like to think of my farm as an oasis for the wildlife community.

( except the ones that fall over in Thailand ) ???  Explain please.   Is this a response to a predator when the crane is guarding its chicks ?

[Speedo1968]

5 hours ago, Muhendis said:

I don't know how far the Sarus crane will travel but at a guess I would say they are comfortable within a 15Km radius of their territory. I believe they can cover considerable distances until they find a suitable habitat where they will settle down for family life. " Sarus cranes are mostly non-migratory in India, but often make short seasonal movements between dry and wet season habitats in Southeast Asia and Australia. " This is a quotation from the following web site which I've had a look at and find quite interesting. https://www.savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/sarus-crane/

 

I have seen herons arrive above a piece of common land where I live late one afternoon, eventually more than 30 turned up.   They continually soared round and round above the same piece of ground, barely moving their wings except to turn or rise or go lower.  Some 20 minutes later one bird headed east, slowly followed by the rest.     I guess this must have been a "pit stop in the sky" ( thermal current rising ) while they rested before heading on-wards ........   Perhaps less energy used to stay aloft than land and take off again, also safer - no dogs etc.

[ClutchClark]

54 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

( except the ones that fall over in Thailand ) ???  Explain please.   Is this a response to a predator when the crane is guarding its chicks ?

 

Construction cranes.