Hooded crane Grus monacha is listed as an endangered species by China red data book,and was listed as a vulnerable species by IUCN,and listed AppendixⅠof CITES.The population of hooded crane is about 9 500 individuals worldwide and breeding is limited to remote eastern Siberia in Russia and Xiaoxing’an mountains marsh in China.The species winters in in southern Japan,and the south coastline of Korea,and middle-lower reaches of Yangtze River in China.Because little is known about their breeding biology,we conducted this study to provide a scientific basis of future protection in China.We conducted our study in the Xiaoxing’an mountains Zhanhe valley of Heilongjiang Province between spring in 2003 and spring in 2004.We located nests erected a tent 10-30 meters from the nest.We observed hooded crane or the nest from the tent and documented behaviour by video and still camera throughout the day.When migration justly or moving in breeding site of hooded crane,we had taken investigation and recording by binoculars and long-focus camera and photo-camera,and during sorted out the records,we checked continually and made accurateness just by video information and photos. The study revealed that hooded crane migrated to the breeding site in early April yearly,mated in middle April,and laid eggs in late April or early May.The average egg was 93.4×58.4 mm in size and weighed 159.4 g.Male and female of hooded crane hatched together after incubating 30.5 days.Hooded crane build nests in the marshy forests or small swamp,and the average nest was 900×900 mm in size with no obvious interior diameter.The nest was 130-180 mm above water and the water depth around the nest was 120-300 mm.Adult hooded crane fed chicks with earthworms and polliwogs,etc.Comparing the habitats of hooded crane nest with Russia,breeding of hooded crane in Zhanhe where there are more trees and greater concealment.We recorded large-billed crow Corvus macrorhynchos,black kite Milvus migrans,golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos that threatened the hooded cra
In order to measure the impact of changes in the marsh on breeding Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) and White-naped Cranes (G.vipio) in the Sanjiang Plain,we conducted a complete crane súrvey in each of the summers of 2007 and 2008,and obtained information on the changes in its marsh through interpretation of satellite images in 1986,1995,2000 and 2005.A comparison between the 1984 and 2008 census shows that:1) the number of Red-crowned Cranes remained stable at about 300 birds,while the number of White-naped Cranes increased markedly; 2) the estimates of nests of Red-crowned cranes are close to the numbers of 1984,while approximately 90％ of the nests of these two crane species were distributed over five national nature reserves (NNRs); 3) the two crane species became more concentrated in three regions,i.e.,the Fuyuan Delta,the middle reaches of the Naoli and Qixing rivers,and the Xingkai Lake wetlands,rather as formerly in six regions.The area of the marsh decreased by 45％ within the 20-year period from 1986 to 2005.The major loss of the marsh area was in the form of a conversion to paddy fields and dry land,which can be primarily attributed to direct human activity under various economic and policy drivers.The disappearance of cranes in the Dulu and Abuqin rivers was induced by large-scale agricultural development.The fragmentation into and isolation of small areas of the marsh became increasingly more serious,which resulted in unsuitable condtions for crane breeding in small patches of the marsh.The number of cranes declined from 1984-1995 but had recovered remarkably by 2008,which may be due to theestablishment of a system of nature reserves,in place since 2000.The land ownership of the reserve plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the wetland ecosystem,especially in Sanjiang,Honghe,Naolihe and Qixinghe NNRs,which together accommodated approximately 80％ of the population of cranes.However,we did not discover any nests at all in the provincial and municipal reserves,which may be attribute
