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Dong thapThere are thousands of rare red-haired cranes, after 30 years of staying with Tram Chim National Park, this year they no longer fly back to feed.
“The birds that want to observe usually have to leave before 7 in the morning, when they leave the nest,” said the guide from Tram Chim National Park (Tam Nong district, Dong Thap). He also said that this year, the floods are low, so the route to the nesting area has been temporarily closed, it is even more difficult for tourists to see the red-haired cranes, because they have to go in the dry season. But this year, crane lovers were disappointed when they no longer returned to Tram Chim to feed.
At the corner of Tram Chim National Park in mid-November, this year the cranes did not come here to feed. Image: Hoang nam
The Tram Chim National Park is 7500 ha wide with 230 species of birds, 130 species of fish, 130 species of plants, divided into 5 subzones. In which, A1 and A5 are for tourist activities. The remaining subdivisions include A2 for bird spawning areas, A3 for fish species conservation, and A4 for main red-crowned crane feeding grounds. Eight years ago, this place was recognized as the 2,000th Ramsar (wetland reserve) in the world and the fourth in Vietnam.
More than 2 km from the national park, at noon, Mr. Hai Nieu, 70, a veteran who has lived all his life in Tram Chim, is drinking tea on the porch. When asked about the thinning of cranes, old man Hai couldn’t help but regret it. He said that people often call the diagonal cranes, cranes. More than 40 years ago, the cranes on this coastal land were so many, around 4:00 am, they heard a copper flutter. On the days when the army marched, they found themselves in the early morning mist, watching from afar the cranes eating thousands of animals, they thought they were the enemy.
“I was busy with the enemy, shooting from the plane, the swarms did not arrive in time to lie down and died as stubble, the soldiers were taken home to cut the meat. a hundred children, “remembers old Hai.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nieu recounted the cranes from thousands of over 40 years ago. Image: Hoang nam
Sharing the same regret, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh Hai – Head of the Department of Science and International Cooperation, Tram Chim National Park said that it is unclear when the cranes lived in Tram Chim, but some 34 years ago, the cranes in This is more than 1,000.
After 1986, the team of experts was surveyed by Dr. Le Dien Duc (now a professor), a professor at the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences. Realizing that this is a place to conserve large numbers of cranes, facing the danger of this precious bird becoming globally extinct, a conference was later held between domestic and foreign environmental organizations and Dong Thap province. That’s to discuss long-term conservation solutions.
Red-haired cranes have prominent features, their heads and necks are hairless and red in color. The stripes on the wings and tail are gray. The crane’s beak and crown are green with red horns and legs. Chick feathers are darker. Adults are 1.5-1.8 m tall; wingspan of 2.2 – 2.5 m and a weight of 8-10 kg.
According to Hai, the cranes breed in Cambodia from September to November, 12. At Tram Chim, they appear from December to April, May, when it rains heavily, the cranes begin to fly. Cranes live in families of 3-4 children, usually from one to 1.5 years, the chicks begin to separate, and the lifespan can be up to 40 years.
Twenty-one years ago, experts connected a flight tracker to several cranes as research data. Before many conservation efforts, but every year, the cranes began to return to Tram Chim gradually decreasing, 2015: 21 children, 2016: 14 children, 2017: 9 children, 2018: 11 children, 2019: 11 children.
Hai said that every year from January to April, the dry season, but the soil still has enough moisture for tubers to grow, it is the favorite dish of cranes, in addition to snails, crabs, fish and mice. If it rains out of season, the beach will flood or the sun will last a long time and the hard land will not develop. In the past, Tram Chim had few channels, alum was still abundant so it developed well, the beach was at least a few thousand hectares. In recent years, people have cleared the land to grow rice, the area has decreased, currently only about 300 hectares. Also, the flood water is low, it cannot wash the baits and reduce the amount of shellfish that is the main food of the birds.
Reply VnExpressMr. Nguyen Hoai Bao, Deputy Director of the Wetlands Research Center, University of Natural Sciences, National University of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the number of red-haired cranes in the lower Mekong (Vietnam and Cambodia) has declined rapidly in the last years.
The International Crane Association (ICF) estimated that there were around 1,100 individuals in 1990 and it remained below 900 individuals in 2002. The species then declined by about 1% per year until 2013, to about 850 individuals. However, from 2014 to 2019, red-haired cranes decreased by 72%, to 234 individuals. It is estimated that there are only 179 individuals in 2020.
In Vietnam this year, no cranes returned, only 7 were registered flying over Phu My (Kien Giang), but they did not land.
Mr. Bao said that the decline in the crane population has many reasons, mainly due to loss of habitat. The dipterocarp forest (dry dipterocarp forest) habitat is the ideal place for cranes to breed during the rainy season (June-September), which has been almost completely destroyed in the northeast region of Cambodia and the central highlands from Vietnam.
Meanwhile, natural wetland habitats in the Mekong Delta and around Bien Ho (Cambodia) have been converted to agricultural and aquaculture land. The cultivation of rice with multiple crops, changes in the hydrological regime and the excessive use of agricultural chemicals have upset the balance of the ecosystem, leaving the cranes with little chance of survival. Furthermore, inadequate management and protection in protected areas and “afforestation” also lead to the disappearance of cranes.
In other countries like Myanmar, due to population shortage, agricultural development in the Ayeyarwady delta is not at a high level, only one or two harvests per year. Cranes live in a human-friendly way, nest and breed in rice fields, so protection is relatively easier.
In Thailand, cranes have been extinct in the wild since the 1980s. Since 2011, the country has started a program to re-release cranes. So far, there are about 100 individuals that live and can reproduce in the wild. Raising and releasing cranes in particular and any species of wildlife is generally very expensive and requires many processes and steps.
The deputy director of the Wetland Research Center said that conservation in the country is in a fragile stage, but conservation centers can shift their focus towards proper management of ecosystems, so it is hoped that the cranes will be restored. “In the event that cranes become extinct in the wild in Vietnam, it is important to learn from the experience of recreating and reviving habitats like in Thailand,” Bao said.
Red-crowned crane in Anlung Pring Reserve, Kampong Trach, Kampot (Cambodia), 30 km from Ha Tien (Kien Giang), 2015. Photo: Nguyen Cong Toai.
Two years ago, the fact that the old cranes “faithful” for 20 years returned, then died in Tram Chim, which many people believed was an optimistic sign. Initially, the center staff planned to bury him in subdivision A4, the main feeding ground for the crane as a return. After that, it is processed as a template, displayed in the main hall of the Tram Chim Tourism Promotion Center, so that people have more opportunities to learn.
When asked about the future of the cranes at Tram Chim, old man Hai Nieu said that he is not a scientist, so he is not sure, but he is sure that things are turning for the worse. geography is being destroyed more and more.
“Hopefully, five to ten years from now, the children and grandchildren will see the cranes return to their contributors, without enriching the knowledge of these cranes,” Hai said, pointing. towards the inner wall of the old house. It is a place to hang a painting that was hand-embroidered by his wife, a scene of a family of cranes flapping their wings.
Hoang nam
