University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Cranes of the World, by Paul Johnsgard Papers in the Biological Sciences January 1983 Cranes of the World: Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscicranes Part of the Ornithology Commons Johnsgard, Paul A., "Cranes of the World: Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus)" (1983). Cranes of the World, by Paul Johnsgard. 29. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscicranes/29 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cranes of the World, by Paul Johnsgard by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus (Gmelin) 1789 Other Vernacular Names. Great African wattled crane; male is darker red than that of the female. In both sexes Grue caroncule (French); Glockenkranich, Klun- this bare area is covered by small, rounded excrescences. kerkranich (German); Hooka Zuru (Japanese); The feathered portion of the head is dark slaty gray Asbrikanskiy Sorodavachaty (Russian); Mothla- above the eyes and on the crown, but is otherwise white, thomo (Sotho, Sesuto); Grulla zarzo (Spanish); including the wattles, which are almost fully feathered Makalanga (Zambian). and hang down from the region of the upper throat. Range. Resident in eastern and southern Africa, from The mantle, breast, primaries, secondaries, tail coverts, Ethiopia in the north southward discontinuously and tail are black, and the remainder of the back and through southern Tanzania (apparently absent wings are ashy gray. The breast and neck are white, from Kenya and northern Tanzania) and Mozam- continuous with the head. The inner secondaries are bique to the Transvaal and Natal, and westward elongated, reaching beyond the tail. The iris is dark to southern Angola and Namibia (South West orange to reddish, the bill is light reddish brown, and Africa), in the latter area breeding locally only. the legs and toes are black or dark gray. Now extirpated from Cape Province and Orange Juueniles lack the bare skin on the face, and have less Free State, and probably declining elsewhere (West, prominent wattles. The body plumage is more tawny 1976). and less contrasting than that of the adult. Subspecies. None recognized. Measurements. Wing (chord), males 613-717 mm (aver- Immatures in their first winter resemble adults but lack age of 7, 669.7 mm); females 619-687 mm (average black crowns and are not so black on the back and of 7, 634.1 mm). Exposed culmen, males 150-185 underparts. mm (average of 7, 174.0 mm); females 124- 183 mm Downy chicks are pale buff on the head and neck, (average of 7, 161.4 mm). Tarsus, males 298-342 becoming dark brown on the lower neck, back, the back mm (average of 7,321.6 mm); females 232-330 mm of the wings, and the thighs. The iris is brown, the bill (average of 7, 309.8 mm). Eggs, average 10 1.9 mm x is horn-colored, and the legs and feet are bluish black. 65.3 mm (91.0-116.5 x 59.3-71.5 mm) (Walkinshaw, The wattles are slightly evident and covered with pale 1973). buff down (Walkinshaw, 1973). Weights. An adult male and female at the International Crane Foundation weighed 8,966 and 8,285 grams (G. Archibald, pers. comm.). The estimated egg Identification weight is 240 grams. Weights of 21 infertile eggs ranged from 199 to 258 grams (Conway and In the field, this is the only African crane that has an all- Hamer, 1977). One fresh egg weighed 265.3 grams white neck, contrasting with a blackish crown, breast, (Walkinshaw, 1973). Sugita and Suzuki (1980) and back. Like the blue crane, it has long and pointed provide growth curves for three chicks to 135 days secondaries that nearly reach the ground, but the blue of age, when they averaged over 5,000 grams. crane lacks a wattle or red on the face. The wattled crane's calls are higher in pitch than those of any other Description cranes except the Siberian crane, and are usually begun from a coiled-neck posture, followed by vertical neck- Adults of both sexes are similar, but the bare skin of the stretching. Distribution of the wattled crane in Africa, including known current distribution (hatching), probable maximum historical range (broken line), and breeding records (after Snow, 1978). Insets show 1980 sightings (after Day, 1980), and the locations of major breeding areas in upper Zambezi Basin (after Konrad, 1981). WATTLED CRANE In the hand, the pendent wattle immediately identifies have occurred in South Africa. The species was once this species. This trait is present even in downy young widespread from the Eastern Cape to as far south as chicks. Internally, the trachea does not penetrate the Somerset West and Caledon in the Western Cape. sternum, but merely indents the keel with a vertical However, Snow (1978) does not show any breeding loop. records for anywhere west of the border area separating Cape Province from Natal. Walkinshaw (1973)likewise provides no breeding records for the Cape Province, but DISTRIBUTION AND HABITATS there is a possible breeding record for the Cape Town area from the 1800s (West, 1963). However, breeding is Historical Range historically well-documented for Natal, Orange Free State (at Harrismith),and for the Transvaal (Belfast and There can be little doubt that the range of this species the Vaal River). has retracted considerably in the current century, but The species is seen in Lesotho during migration, and even today its distribution is rather poorly known. The in Swaziland its historic occurrence is undocumented. wattled crane is a bird of local and discontinuous However, in Natal the species has apparently long been distribution (Snow, 1978) and is largely limited to relatively common, especially among the vleis that lie rather inaccessible wetlands. The northern population directly below the low berg regions, at elevations of seems to have always been confined to the Ethiopian 1,524 to 1,829 meters. Breeding records exist for as early uplands, although there is an apparently undocumented as 1895 for the Newcastle area, while other early records occurrence in Somalia. Records from Ethiopia are exist for the Mooi River area, Hidcot, and Nottingham fairly numerous and range in elevation from 7,000 feet Road. More recent Natal breeding records from the (2,134 meters) to 12,000 feet (3,990 meters). The most 1960s exist for the Dartmoor Forestry Reserve, Greytown, northerly of these records is from the vicinity of Asmera, Himeville (Underberg), the Hlatikulu River area, and in Eritrea, and the most southerly from northern Howick, Sarsdon Hill (Walkinshaw, 1964). Sidamo Province (Snow, 1978; Walkinshaw, 1973). In Mozambique, breeding has been documented for Breeding records exist for Dangila, Gojam (Gwejam) the mouth of the Sabi River, near Lourenco Marques. Province, in 1928, and for Adkoba, in Bale Province, in This seems to be the only sea-level breeding record for 1963 (Walkinshaw, 1973). the species. The other population of wattled cranes is separated In Zimbabwe (previously Southern Rhodesia), a by an equatorial gap of more than 1,000 kilometers rather large number of breeding records exist (Walkin- from the northern birds; there are no records for either shaw, 1973), but in Tanzania there are but a few Uganda or Kenya. In Zaire there are but few records, nonbreeding records (Burungi and Hhehe). The north- including an old coastal record from Banana. There are ernmost record from eastern Africa seems to be from the also specimen records from Kasai Occidental, from vicinity of Iringa, in southern Tanzania (Snow, 1978). Nieuwdorp in the upper Katanga drainage, from Kinda In Zambia (previously Northern Rhodesia),the species in the Lulua District, Elisabethville, and from La- has apparently always been fairly common, and there lambwe and also 65 kilometers north of the Mwati are many breeding records (Benson et al., 197 1; Walkin- River. No breeding records exist for Zaire. shaw, 1973). It is especially frequent in the west, but is To the south of Zaire, in Angola, one breeding record scarce in the northeast and the Luangwa Valley, and (1934) exists, for Andula, in the Bie District. At least in evidently absent from the middle Zambezi. Breeding the late 1800s it was common in the interior of records there extend throughout the year, with a peak Benguela, and more recently (Traylor, 1963) was wide- between May and July. spread in the southern interior, north to Cuanza Sul and southern Lunda. Current Range In northern Namibia (Ovamboland) there are several old records, and the species had probably long existed The present status of the wattled crane in Ethiopia is in the flats and intermittent rivers that flow north and totally unknown, but current political conditions there east into ~n~hlaand Botswana. However, the only make it unlikely that the species is prospering. available breeding records are fairly recent ones, from The species' status in Zaire is scarcely better known, Ovambo (West, 1976). but Konrad (1981) suggested that the southeastern In Botswana, (previously Bechuanaland Protectorate) corner of this nation may support some birds, especially the species has probably always been confined to the in the Upemba Basin region. northern areas (Ngamiland);nonbreeding records extend In Angola, the situation is likewise poorly studied, south to the vicinities of Lake Dow (Xau) and Lake but Konrad (1981) believes that a significant population Ngami (Snow, 1978). may still exist in the tributaries of the Zambezi River in Probably the greatest changes in historical ranges the east, in the wetlands bordering Namibia in the CRANES OF THE WORLD south, and in the central highland and associated 3,500 square kilometer area that attracts both nesting basins.