The Flight of the Cranes

You often hear cranes long before you see them. A haunting trumpetlike call announces their presence, even though they may be miles away. This call apparently helps to keep the flock together during their long migration flights. Most species of cranes migrate from their northern breeding grounds. In the autumn they travel huge distances from Canada, Scandinavia, or Siberia to the warmer climes of China, India, the United States (Texas), or the Mediterranean region. These journeys are hazardous and exhausting. Some Eurasian cranes have been spotted flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet [nearly 10,000 meters] as they cross the Himalayas en route to India. They fly in the typical V-formation and take advantage of thermals so that they can glide as far as possible. When crossing water, however, they must depend on wing power alone.a

Spanish ornithologist Juan Carlos Alonso has spent nearly 20 years tracking the migration patterns of the 70,000 Eurasian cranes that winter in Spain. “Some birds are ringed, and others are fitted with small radio transmitters so that we can track their migration flight,” he explains. “It is a real thrill for me when in its Spanish wintering area, I discover a bird that I myself ringed when it was a fledgling in Northern Germany. The cranes’ migration routes have been used for centuries. A crane ringed in Finland was found wintering as far south as Ethiopia, while some cranes from Siberia winter in Mexico.”