Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

• In general, cranes spend up to half to three-quarters of daylight hours feeding (Archibald & Meine 1996)
• All cranes in non-breeding season feed in daytime, roost at night
• Crane daily activities studied in China in managed care (Jinjun & Xiuhua 1998):
  • Walking and resting - 60%
  • Preening - 14.9%
  • Foraging - 22%
  • Breeding - 2.2%
  • During middle of breeding season:
    • Cranes rest less
    • Foraging and breeding behavior increased
    • Walking and preening remained the same
  • Weather significantly influenced behavior:
    • Rainy and cool days - more foraging and resting
    • Warmer days - more breeding and preening

Home range/territory

• When flocks roost at night, each bird stands just outside the reach of a neighbor's peck
• Territorial during breeding season (Carpenter 1986)
• Summer home range
  • China: 2.6 km sq (1 mi sq)
  • Japan: 1-7 km sq (0.4-2.7 mi sq)
  • Russia: 4-12 km sq (1.5-4.6 mi sq)
• Breeding density and territory size depend on available food (Archibald & Meine 1996)
  • One pair may occupy small area of only 500 ha (1,236 acres) of isolated wetlands
  • Alternately, a larger wetland of several thousand acres with good visibility may be occupied

Dispersal and migration

• Annual cycle consists of breeding, migrating, wintering periods (Ma 1981)
  • Migration is divided into a spring and a fall phase
• Breeding populations found in:
  • Southeast Russia
  • Northeast China
  • Mongolia
  • Eastern Hokkaido, Japan
• Red-crowned cranes are both migratory and non-migratory
  • Nearly sedentary Japanese populations on Hokkaido move 150 km (93 mi) between wintering area and summer habitat (Archibald & Meine 1996)
  • Russian and Chinese populations migrate across northeast China and divide into smaller populations (Archibald & Meine 1996) (IUCN 2009)
    • Across North Korea to winter near Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of North and South Korea
    • Along N China Sea to winter in coastal areas around Jiangsu and Yellow River delta
• Juveniles remain with parents into non-breeding season; at season's end leave or are driven off
• Unpaired juveniles gather in nomadic, non-breeding flocks
• Juveniles fly with parents for their first migration and thus learn the route

Displays (Archibald & Meine 1996)

•  Like all cranes, noted for dance behavior
  • Components of dancing include:
    • Jerky bouncing
    • Graceful leaping into the air
    • Running with outstretched wings
  • Motivations for dance behavior
    • Exercise and play for chicks as young as 2 days
    • Establishing pair-bonding for young adult birds
    • Maintaining pair-bonding in adults
    • Perhaps thwarting aggression in adults
    • Simulating reproductive condition

Vocalizations

• Voice high pitched and penetrating (Archibald & Meine 1996)
• Hatchlings first utter trills, then begin to chirp when begging for food (Klenova et al. 2007)
• Adolescent cranes develop preflight calls, disturbance-related calls (Klenova et al. 2007)
• Voices of adults categorized: Archibald (1975) and Vinter (1981)
  • Location call - a quiet exchange between two parents or males on feeding grounds at night
  • Flight intention call and flight call
  • Alarm call - similar to location call but sharper and abrupt
  • Guard call - loudest, heard 4-5 km (2.5 - 3.1 mi) away; given at appearance of humans or when a crane oversteps its territory into a neighbor's
  • Unison call - male and female pair trumpet
  • Agitation call
• Cranes develop adult voices by 10-11 months (Klenova et al. 2007)
  • Young voices: high pitched, stimulate care from parents, reduce aggression
  • Adult voice: low pitched, develop rapidly at onset of independence
  • Social cues seem to stimulate this transition; attaining adult size does not
• Males and females can be distinguished on the basis of their unison calls (Swengel 1996b) (Archibald 1976):
  • Male raises wing, often with each note uttered
  • Female does not raise wing
  • Female voice higher pitched; gives 2-3 notes for each male note

•  A personal space of 2-3 m (6.6-9.8 ft) maintained between cranes (Britton & Hayashida 1981)
  • Breaching of this boundary may provoke attack
• Common aggressive postures include: (Archibald & Meine 1996):
  • Stand upright with feathers smoothed
  • Protrude thighs
  • Head feathers expanded
  • Walk in stiff, jerky steps
  • Flap, ruffle, bow, stomp
  • False preening
  • Snort and growl
• "Crouch threat" (Archibald & Meine 1996)
  • Lowers self to ground
  • Folds wings
  • Extends head, showing red patch
• "Ruffle Threat" (Archibald & Meine 1996)
  • Lifts feathers on neck, wings and back
  • Opens and lowers wings
  • Ruffles wings in alternating pattern
  • Lowers bill as if ready to preen
• "Charge" (Archibald & Meine 1996)
  • Neck and head pointed straight down
  • Feathers lifted on neck and back
  • Red skin patch on head appears prominent
• When frightened (Archibald & Meine 1996):
  • Wings spread and body arched forward
  • Approaches object of fear
• When submissive (Archibald & Meine 1996):
  • Neck lowered
  • Body feathers elevated
  • Feathers on head lowered and red skin on head deflates

• Live and breed in flocks
• Mated pairs defend nesting territory

• Occurs with white-naped crane, Grus vipio, in Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) (Lee et al. 2007)
  • Red-crowned crane is dominant as evidenced in threat postures and fights elsewhere
  • Red-crowned cranes seem to benefit from this association by having higher feeding activity
  • Negative effects not seen in white-naped cranes; their feeding rates are not affected
  • Both species show less vigilance when feeding together
  • Conservation planning should take this association into consideration
• In Amur wetlands of Russia (Vinter 1981):
  • Incubating cranes indifferent to many nearby bird species, such as:
    • Red footed falcons
    • Buzzards
    • Long and short-eared owls
    • Pied harrier
    • Magpies
    • Japanese quail
    • Schrenk's bitterns
    • Stonechats
    • Grasshopper warblers
    • Yellow breasted buntings
    • Gray-hooded buntings
  • Crane parents with young gave warning calls when some predatory birds approached:
    • Marsh harrier
    • Black kites
    • Buzzards
    • Marsh harriers
    • Pallas' sea eagles
  • Incubating cranes responded aggressively to spotted eagles (Aquila clanga)
    • Attack made by parent not actively sitting on the egg
• An incubating crane once observed following a wolf (by walking) until the wolf entered the forest (Vinter 1981)
• Dogs, foxes, raccoon dogs, badgers, martens are chased away by parent cranes but may prey on young (Vinter 1981)
• Crows and ravens prey on eggs and hatchlings; birds of prey on older individuals (USGS 2006)
• On Hokkaido, escaped mink may be significant predators (USGS 2006)

• Terrestrial locomotion
  • Walk slowly, holding neck in slight curve, body horizontal (Neufeldt 1981)
  • Can run up to 40 km/hr (25 mph) (Neufeldt 1981)
• Flight
  • Take to air easily after short run (Neufeldt 1981)
  • Fly in straight lines or V formations (Ma 1981)
  • Every 2 years flight feathers all fall out at the same time
• Other
  • All cranes can swim; chicks are better swimmers than adults (ICF 2011)
  • Cranes are exclusively ground and water birds (Neufeldt 1981)
    • Do not roost or nest in trees (with exception of one African species)
    • Rest, especially in winter, with one leg tucked up

Red-crowned Cranes spend about 60% of their time resting and preening.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Archibald (1975)
Archibald (1976)
Archibald & Meine (1996)
ICF (2011)
Jinjun & Xiuhua (1998)
Lee et al. (2007)
Ma (1981)
Meine & Archibald (1996)
Swengel (1996b)