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Field note

Crane in 1952: Kushiro refuge steps · 283

[282] [desk-crane-4] In 1952, the field log for Crane is headed “Kushiro refuge steps.” The figure kept beside that heading is 1. It is a count or a date from the work, not a rank of the species’ worth. A zoo birthday card does not replace the log. CITES, ICCAT, IWC and auction houses price the animal whether or not a local language has a word for it.

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock was about 21 birds in 1941. That nadir still defines US recovery graphs. What did George Archibald do at ICF? He courtship-danced with a human-imprinted whooping crane named Tex so she would ovulate -- a 1980s method story, not a field census. A large share of the migratory island population winters on one Kyushu floodplain. Influenza years there are species-level events.

Do cranes mate with a lifelong dance? Pairs are typically socially monogamous. The dance is pair-bond and territorial display, not a fairy-tale wedding. Wintering red-crowned and white-naped cranes use the Civilian Control Zone. Peace-time development is a documented risk to that accidental reserve.

Chicks imprint on humans and then fail to migrate or pair. Operation Migration ultralights (2001-2015) tried to teach a new flyway. Is the Hokkaido tancho a separate species? No. The resident Kushiro group and mainland migratory birds are one species with different movement strategies.

Keep 1952, “Kushiro refuge steps,” and 1 together or the note on Crane stops being that year’s record.1952

Figures to keep

Year of the note
1952
Figure to keep
1
Species
Crane
Line in the log
Kushiro refuge steps

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