A sub-zero winter’s day just outside of Kushiro on the east coast of Japan’s most northern island of Hokkaido, and the time had come at last to see in person my beloved tancho. How many years I have wished and hoped to see these extremely rare birds, especially their courtship ballet set against a snowy stage. It was incredibly emotive for me.
The red-crowned crane is a potent icon for the people of Japan. In symbolic form, it is the bird of happiness and long life (in fable, it lives for a 1,000 years).
The population of red-crowned cranes in Japan is mostly non-migratory and currently consists of just a thousand or so birds. Hunting and land loss led to a near extinction in the late 1800s. Governments and citizens woke up to the plight of tancho in the 1950s...now protected, supported, and with a secure winter food supply, the population began a dramatic recovery that has made it the great success story of 20th century conservation in Japan.
Link to portrait image:
www.flickr.com/photos/112623317@N03/49585651788/in/photol...
160 cm height
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