This crane flew 4,800 kilometres in 15 days to reach Gujarat on World Migratory Bird Day

A female Common Crane weighing 4.72 kilogramme was tagged with a solar-powered GPS GSM transmitter weighing 40 grams on March 12 this year in Gujarat’s Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary. The tagging was part of a larger project on assessing the impact of power lines on large avian species in the arid plains of western Gujarat. Photo: Hareendra Baraiya

Common and Demoiselle Cranes usually come to winter in Rajasthan and Gujarat from Central Asia via the Central Asian Migratory Bird Flyway. The Common Crane, christened ‘Vadla’ after the village where she was captured, arrived in northern Kazakhstan April 10, covering a distance of 4,800 kilometres in 15 days. After spending five months in the area, Vadla started on its return migration flying through the same route September 29. It finally arrived in Gujarat October 10, which was World Migratory Bird Day. Interestingly, Vadla also returned to exactly the same wetland where it was captured and tagged. Photo: Hareendra Baraiya

The solar-powered GPS-GSM tag that has been used is a smart technology that provides detailed information on crane migration, says R Suresh Kumar, scientist and investigator of the project from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. The tag has the capacity to store 300,000 locations. Photo: Hareendra Baraiya

The researchers hope to tag nine more Common Cranes from Gujarat over the next few months as part of this project that will help improve the understanding about these long-distance travelers. Photo: R Suresh Kumar