Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) Fact Sheet: Distribution & Habitat

•  Two main breeding populations (Archibald & Meine 1996) (Swengel 1996a):
  • Mainland eastern Asia
    • Breeds in northeast China and southeast Russia
    • Winters in Korea and Jiangsu, China
  • Resident, non-migratory in eastern Hokkaido, Northern Japan
    • Near Kushiro Mire, a 45,000 acres marshland
• Rare records in Taiwan
• First record in 2003 in Mongolia (BirdLife International 2016)
• Previous distribution also in southwestern Hokkaido until 100 years ago (Masatomi 1981)

• Prefer deeper water than other cranes for feeding (Archibald & Meine 1996) (Meine & Archibald 1996)
  • Frequent reed, sedge, and cat-tail marshes; reed swamps in China (Ma 1981)
  • Visit crop or pasture land, dykes
• Seasonal variation in habitats occupied in Japan (Meine & Archibald 1996):
  • Summer to fall: open low meadows, bogs, wet meadows; often pasture lands
  • Winter: coastal salt marshes, rivers, freshwater marshes, rice paddies, cultivated fields
• Roost at night in shallow water, or at times on mudflats, sandbars, dry ground (Meine & Archibald 1996)
• For nesting, require standing dead vegetation

Red-crowned cranes live in southeast Russia, northeast China, Mongolia (first reported in 2003), and Japan.

Adapted from www.d-maps.com according to IUCN fact sheet. Click here or on map for detailed distribution (IUCN).

Archibald & Meine (1996)
BirdLife International (2016)
IUCN (2009)
Ma (1981)
Masatomi (1981)
Meine & Archibald (1996)
Swengel (1996a)