Work

Northern migration patterns and winter habitat use of hooded cranes (Grus monacha) in Suncheon Bay, South Korea

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Understanding individual-level spatial dynamics of the Vulnerable Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) remains limited, especially regarding fine-scale winter habitat use and north migration from South Korea. This lack of data constrains conservation planning across the East Asian Flyway. METHODS: The five Hooded Cranes were GPS-tagged in Suncheon Bay, South Korea, and tracked their movements from wintering to breeding grounds. Spatial analyses included habitat utilization, day-night partitioning, activity range estimation (MCP and KDE), and migration route with stopover characterization. RESULTS: Hooded Cranes exhibited strong diel habitat partitioning: foraging in seasonally flooded field on day and roosting on mudflats at night. Activity ranges computed within the Suncheon complex despite eight-fold differences among individuals in core area size. Northern migration followed a narrow Yellow Sea corridor with 5–7 stopover sites, notably in reclaimed estuaries like Saemangeum, Cheonsu Bay, with final breeding locations in the Russian Far East. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest managing paddy fields and mudflats as a single ecological unit, protecting key stopover sites, and testing spatially dispersed supplementary feeding to buffer late-winter shortages. This study provides the fine-scale linkage between winter habitat use and migration in Hooded Cranes.

Source: BMC Ecology and Evolution

DOI: 10.1186/s12862-025-02482-9