Karkloof Conservation & Tourism

Crane Ringing

Blue Crane chick in the Karkloof sporting new colourful rings.

Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, assisted by land owners Rene and Britt Stubbs, on 3 February 2011, successfully caught and colour ringed a Blue Crane chick approximately 8 weeks old here in the Karkloof. The chick was one of two chicks that were hatched by this pair of Blue Cranes, but unfortunately a few days before the capture attempt one of the chicks disappeared. The chick was caught without any hiccups and was firstly weighed before a unique combination of PVC plastic colour rings were fitted onto the legs of the chick. This unique combination of rings will allow the Endangered Wildlife Trust to monitor this bird over time and each resighting of any Crane fitted with colour rings provides important information about the biology of the different species, including average age of first breeding, longevity or adult survival and movement.

Colour ringing of Cranes has been the preferred method to mark and identify individual birds over time. There are just under 1 400 cranes that have been fitted with colour rings throughout the country. Nearly 130 Wattled Cranes have been colour ringed over the last 24 years, most of which have been caught as chicks here in KwaZulu-Natal, and just over 110 Grey Crowned Cranes and 1 100 Blue Cranes have been colour ringed throughout the country. Cranes are usually caught and colour ringed as juveniles, in other words, before they can fly. When a chick is caught they are fitted with a large three inch plastic ring on one leg and a combination of either two 1.5 inch rings or three 1 inch rings on the other leg. The colour of the large three inch ring fitted is determined by the province where the bird is caught, the following colours are used for each province: Limpopo and Mpumalanga are Large Green rings, Free State is Large White, Eastern Cape is Large Yellow, Northern Cape currently is 1.5 inch Red over White (Large Red in the past) and Western Cape is currently 1.5 inch Orange over White (Large Orange in the past) and KwaZulu-Natal is large blue. There are only 6 possible colours of the smaller rings that are used on cranes, they are: Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Orange and White. Some things to note though is that from about the year 2000 it was decided to use large white rings on Wattled Cranes in KwaZulu-Natal as this ring is much easier to see by the naked eye than the large blue rings, therefore making it more visible to farmers and members of the public to see if a Wattled Crane has colour rings fitted or not and thereby increasing the number of resightings reported to us by the landowners and public. The Western Cape and the Northern Cape are now using two 1.5 inch rings as the ‘provincial’ ring, because they have used all the possible combinations of the colour rings using a single large 3 inch provincial ring.

If you see a Crane with colour rings on their legs, which will always be above the knee, then carefully record the combination of the rings by checking which leg has which rings and then also the order of the colours from top to bottom.

For example, the Wattled Crane chick in this photo has been fitted with a Large White ring on the right leg and a Small Yellow over Small Green ring on the left leg. After you have recorded the combination of rings, as best you can, then please contact Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust at tanyas@ewt.org.za or on 082 394 7476.

Photographs of the Blue Crane chick that was ringed on 03/02/2011:

Above Left: Tanya Smith weighing the Blue Crane Chick.
Above Right: A close-up of the rings.

Above: The Blue Crane chick standing after being ringed.

Above: Britt Stubbs and Tanya Smith releasing the Blue Crane Chick.




	1: Home 2: The Karkloof 2.1: Karkloof History 2.2: Accommodation 2.3: What to do in the Karkloof 2.4: Karkloof Falls 3: The Karkloof Conservancy 3.1: About Us 3.2: Vision and Mission Statement 3.3: Projects 3.4: Conservation Committee 4: Conservation Centre 4.1: Initiative 5: Farming Practices 5.1: No-Till Farming 5.2: Biodiversity/Agriculture 5.3: Biological Fly Control 5.4: Oribi Custodians 5.5: Crane Custodians 5.6: Biodiversity Stewardship Programme 5.7: Predators and Farmers 6: Farm Schools Project 6.1: 2008 6.2: 2011 7: Birding 7.1: Karkloof Sightings 7.2: Birdlist (PDF) 7.3: Photograph Archive 7.4: Bird Ringing 8: Cranes 8.1: Grey Crowned Cranes 8.2: Wattled Cranes 8.3: Blue Cranes 8.4: Wattled Crane Recovery Programme 8.5: KwaZulu-Natal Crane Foundation 8.6: Crane Ringing 9: Environmental Education 9.2: WESSA Share-Net 9.3: Eco-Schools 9.4: Nature Ways DVD 10: Conservation Issues 10.1: Alien Plants 10.2: Mallard Ducks 11: Upcoming Events 12: Useful Links 13: Contact Us	Crane Ringing Blue Crane chick in the Karkloof sporting new colourful rings. Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, assisted by land owners Rene and Britt Stubbs, on 3 February 2011, successfully caught and colour ringed a Blue Crane chick approximately 8 weeks old here in the Karkloof. The chick was one of two chicks that were hatched by this pair of Blue Cranes, but unfortunately a few days before the capture attempt one of the chicks disappeared. The chick was caught without any hiccups and was firstly weighed before a unique combination of PVC plastic colour rings were fitted onto the legs of the chick. This unique combination of rings will allow the Endangered Wildlife Trust to monitor this bird over time and each resighting of any Crane fitted with colour rings provides important information about the biology of the different species, including average age of first breeding, longevity or adult survival and movement. Colour ringing of Cranes has been the preferred method to mark and identify individual birds over time. There are just under 1 400 cranes that have been fitted with colour rings throughout the country. Nearly 130 Wattled Cranes have been colour ringed over the last 24 years, most of which have been caught as chicks here in KwaZulu-Natal, and just over 110 Grey Crowned Cranes and 1 100 Blue Cranes have been colour ringed throughout the country. Cranes are usually caught and colour ringed as juveniles, in other words, before they can fly. When a chick is caught they are fitted with a large three inch plastic ring on one leg and a combination of either two 1.5 inch rings or three 1 inch rings on the other leg. The colour of the large three inch ring fitted is determined by the province where the bird is caught, the following colours are used for each province: Limpopo and Mpumalanga are Large Green rings, Free State is Large White, Eastern Cape is Large Yellow, Northern Cape currently is 1.5 inch Red over White (Large Red in the past) and Western Cape is currently 1.5 inch Orange over White (Large Orange in the past) and KwaZulu-Natal is large blue. There are only 6 possible colours of the smaller rings that are used on cranes, they are: Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Orange and White. Some things to note though is that from about the year 2000 it was decided to use large white rings on Wattled Cranes in KwaZulu-Natal as this ring is much easier to see by the naked eye than the large blue rings, therefore making it more visible to farmers and members of the public to see if a Wattled Crane has colour rings fitted or not and thereby increasing the number of resightings reported to us by the landowners and public. The Western Cape and the Northern Cape are now using two 1.5 inch rings as the ‘provincial’ ring, because they have used all the possible combinations of the colour rings using a single large 3 inch provincial ring. If you see a Crane with colour rings on their legs, which will always be above the knee, then carefully record the combination of the rings by checking which leg has which rings and then also the order of the colours from top to bottom. For example, the Wattled Crane chick in this photo has been fitted with a Large White ring on the right leg and a Small Yellow over Small Green ring on the left leg. After you have recorded the combination of rings, as best you can, then please contact Tanya Smith of the Endangered Wildlife Trust at tanyas@ewt.org.za or on 082 394 7476. Photographs of the Blue Crane chick that was ringed on 03/02/2011: Above Left: Tanya Smith weighing the Blue Crane Chick. Above Right: A close-up of the rings. Above: The Blue Crane chick standing after being ringed. Above: Britt Stubbs and Tanya Smith releasing the Blue Crane Chick.