【Series】Spirits of the Kamuy landscape (10) Morning sunlight paints red-crowned cranes orange as they call to each other
Red-crowned cranes, a nationally protected species, began calling to each other in reverberating cries on a severely cold early morning at Ito Sanctuary in eastern Hokkaido’s Tsurui Village.
At Ito Sanctuary, the morning sun rose from the background grove, and the camera lens lined up perfectly with the cranes and the sun. Right after sun-up, the red-crowned cranes came flying from their den, caught their breath, and began calling to each other. The backlight painted the cranes and the entire scene a beautiful orange, tinting even the crane breath vapor. It is truly a breathtaking scene.
Concern over extinction for the red-crowned cranes led to steady preservation efforts that increased the population all the way to 1,800 cranes. Dispersion to habitats around Hokkaido from the nearby Kushiro marshland is progressing. Tsurui Village is a safe, secure spot for red-crowned cranes because it has all the environmental elements they need, including a food source, a spring nesting colony, and a den during the winter season. In fact, Tsurui Village is a true “red-crowned crane sanctuary”.
I hope the red-crowned cranes can continue to coexist with the village for a long, long time.
Location
Ito Sanctuary
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