Translated material
Siberian cranes will fly for Putin
A group of white Siberian crane chicks - Siberian Cranes - are preparing to fly out for the winter. A motor hang glider will become a guide for the sterling chicks, who have grown up under human supervision and do not know the way. Together with him, white cranes will cover 1.8 thousand km to the border with Kazakhstan, there they will integrate into a flock of gray brothers and, already in such company, will reach India, where they will spend the winter. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to fly part of the route at the head of the crane wedge.
Siberian cranes nest only in Russia: in Yakutia and Western Siberia. In Yakutia, the population of white cranes does not exceed 3 thousand individuals. There are only 20 Siberian Cranes in Western Siberia. The height of an adult bird reaches 160 cm, the wingspan is about two and a half meters. For representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North, the Siberian Crane is a sacred bird, a character in myths and legends. The average lifespan of a white crane is 60-70 years, but many do not live to this age, having fallen victims to poachers. If nothing is done, the Siberian crane may disappear as a species.
The Flight of Hope project, which has been implemented by Russian and foreign scientists for many years, can correct the situation. Scientists aim to change the migration route of white cranes. This is planned to be done using trikes. For the first time, white cranes took to the skies behind a motorized hang glider in 2002. The aircraft was flown by Italian record-breaking hang glider Angelo d'Arrigo, who had previously crossed the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea with migrating eagles, and in 2004 flew over Everest. In 2006, Russian trike pilots also accompanied the Siberian Cranes part of the way. And finally, this year the experiment is repeated so that next fall the white cranes will know the safe way to wintering.
Since there are very few Siberian Cranes, every individual counts, and scientists are saving those who would be doomed in the wild. Siberian cranes (by the way, these birds choose a mate for themselves once, for the rest of their lives) lay two eggs, but the second chick dies. “If the birds are convinced that the first hatched chick is alive and well, they leave the second egg. The short Yamal summer and the meager food supply do not allow a pair of Siberian Cranes to raise two chicks. This sacrifice is inevitable,” Alexander, head of the Sterkh Foundation, told Interfax-Russia.ru Ermakov. According to him, scientists place the second egg in an incubator in the Oksky Nature Reserve in the Ryazan region. And already at this stage the chick is accustomed to the noise of the motor hang glider with which it will fly. “A few days before hatching, when the chick in nature begins to hear its mother, and our chicks in the incubator, the noise of the motor increases. The sound, unnatural in nature, becomes the norm for Siberian Cranes,” says Alexander Ermakov. In order for the chicks to adapt to the wild, a person has contact with them only in a special white suit that imitates an adult bird. As soon as the sterling chicks grow up, they learn to fly, running along the ground and rising into the sky after the hang-glider. When it is time for migration, white crane chicks are transported by plane from the reserve to a place near the village of Kushevat on Yamal. From there, one of these days it is planned to start in the forest-steppe of the Tyumen region on the border with Kazakhstan. “There is such a thing as the migratory component of birds. Now there are still a lot of gray ducks and geese, they are not in a hurry to the south. We will go in the general mass,” said the head of the Sterkh Foundation. According to him, six chicks aged from three to three and a half months will reach the border with Kazakhstan by approximately September 20. At first, the Siberian Cranes will fly 20-30 km in one passage, then 30-40 and gradually increasing. “The Siberian Crane can cover 200-300 km in one trip,” emphasizes Alexander Ermakov. At this stage, as the Vedomosti newspaper reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to join the project. “On the way to the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Putin decided to stop by Yamal and, weather permitting, take part in the Flight of Hope project,” the publication reported, citing the organizers of the project and employees of the presidential administration. The newspaper’s interlocutors clarified that the president will have to try himself as the leader of a pack of captive-bred Siberian Cranes.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Interfax that Vladimir Putin intends to take part in the Flight of Hope project in Yamal. “Yes, indeed, this event is being prepared and will take place in a few days,” Peskov said. A participant in the project, head of the laboratory of the All-Russian Research Institute of Nature Conservation, Alexander Sorokin, told Interfax-Russia.ru that Putin had already visited Yamal on August 4. “He flew here (to Kushevat - IF) on Tuesday to get acquainted with the progress of the project and give a start to the start of migration. Perhaps he will come again. He (Putin - IF) flew on a motorized hang glider, piloted it himself," noted Alexander Sorokin, adding that the flight was carried out along with the co-pilot. However, the Siberian Crane will still reach the intermediate point - the border with Kazakhstan - without Putin and, probably, without the same attention as now. In the Tyumen region, Siberian Cranes will join the flock of gray cranes, of which there are several thousand. “Their wintering places are the same,” noted Alexander Ermakov.
Director of the Oksky Nature Reserve Yuri Markin clarified to Interfax-Russia.ru that the introduction of Siberian Cranes into the flock of gray cranes has been practiced for several years, and now the gray cranes perceive the white cranes as their own. Only they themselves know where exactly the birds will spend the winter, but most likely in India, flying through dangerous Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Siberian Cranes are killed. It is unknown how many birds will be able to return to Western Siberia in the spring. In order to make the fate of white cranes more certain, next year the birds are planned to be escorted by delta planes to Uzbekistan. Alexander Sorokin said that in this version the cranes will bypass Pakistan and Afghanistan. In addition, this route is 2 thousand km shorter than the traditional one. After spending the winter, the Siberian Cranes will be able to return to Western Siberia on their own. “On the territory of Russia, the killing of Siberian Cranes is isolated cases, which are an exception, but if birds fly to India for the winter through Afghanistan and Pakistan, then this is the norm there. These territories are not under public control. Therefore, the task of the project is to create an alternative wintering area in Uzbekistan on the border with Afghanistan ", noted Alexander Ermakov. “The process is very difficult, we have to involve Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. There are so few Siberian Cranes that we want them to pass the danger zone,” Yuri Markin, director of the Oka Nature Reserve, also said. In the meantime, Siberian cranes are on the verge of extinction. And, despite Putin’s “attempts” to save the white cranes, one should not expect a quick result. “The Siberian Crane reaches sexual maturity in the fifth or sixth year of life. When our birds return, they will give birth, and then we can say that the project was a success,” says Alexander Ermakov.”