Photo Arne Ader
Translation Liis
Estonian text posted 21.05.2018
Crane gathering
Crane Sookurg Grus grus
Veljo counted altogether 150 cranes near Leevaku (in the Räpina area) and asked this question:
Is it common that they are so many together now? How should this be explained?
Aivar Leito explains:
Yes, quite common. The flocks now consist mainly of young cranes that do not breed yet and partly also of adult birds that for some reason don’t nest either (a part of the birds are not able to reproduce at all or do not nest in a given year, for instance because it is a so called moulting year, that is, adult birds have a complete moulting in different years and then generally do not breed but join such flocks).
The cranes in the Leevaku area spend the night in the Meelva bog nearby. There for instance satellite crane Ahja 5 spends most nights, but mostly however feeds near Ahja in daytime.
NB! All such observations are interesting and please note them also in the Biodiversity database: https://elurikkus.ee/
