Sarus Crane - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The species has historically been widely distributed on the lowlands of India along the Gangetic plains, extending south to the Godavari River, west to coastal Gujarat, the Tharparkar District of Pakistan, and east to West Bengal and Assam. The species no longer breeds in the Punjab, though it occurs sporadically on the Indian side in winter. Sarus Cranes are rare and occur in very low numbers in West Bengal and Assam, and are no longer found in the state of Bihar. In Nepal, its distribution is restricted to the western lowland plains, with most of the population occurring in Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, and Nawalparasi districts.

There are two distinct populations of Sarus Cranes in South-east Asia: the northern population in China and Burma, and the southern population in Cambodia and Vietnam. The Sarus used to extend to Thailand and further east into the Philippines, but became extinct. In 2011, captive bred cranes were reintroduced into Thailand. In Australia they are found only in the northern parts, and are partly migratory in some areas. The global range has shrunk and the largest occupied area is now in India. With marshlands largely destroyed, these cranes are increasingly dependent on wet paddy fields in India. Although now found mainly at a low elevation on the plains, there are some historical records from highland marshes further north in Harkit Sar and Kahag in Kashmir. The Sarus Crane breeds in some high elevation regions such as near the Pong Dam in Himachal Pradesh, where populations may be growing in response to increasing rice cultivation along the reservoir.

Sarus Cranes preferentially use wetlands or uncultivated patches amid flooded rice paddies (locally called khet-taavadi) for nesting in India. Breeding pairs are territorial and prefer to forage in natural wetlands, though wet crops like rice and wheat are also frequented.