ARCHIVED - First cranes make welcome return to Alicante province
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The magnificent long-legged birds have been spotted in Torrevieja and San Fulgencio in the south of Alicante province
The graceful crane has arrived in Alicante making a welcome return to the province's marshes and wetlands with sightings in Torrevieja, San Fulgencio and El Hondo de Amorós nature reserve.
Whilst the large, long-necked birds are a regular visitor to much of the southwest of Spain, their "presence is quite scarce in Alicante", according to the Friends of the South Wetlands of Alicante (AHSA), with less than 100 cranes arriving annually over the last few years.
"Groups, which rarely exceed 100 birds in total, come to our wetlands to either make a brief rest stop on their migration or to stay for longer periods, even to spend the winter until March when they return to their nesting areas, mainly in northern Europe," explained AHSA.
But a lack of ringed cranes makes it difficult for the environmental group to know exactly how many of the birds visit and how long they stay.
"The scarcity of birds marked with rings that can be read at a distance (only one specimen has been monitored) prevents us from establishing the duration of their stay, although the stability in the number of birds and the age composition of the flocks monitored in recent years leads us to believe that some of them spend the winter here and that they are not different groups of birds in transit," added AHSA.
Adult cranes stand at around 1.2 metres (4ft) and are renowned for their intricate “display“ behaviour, where they perform bows, pirouettes and bobs.
They are most frequently spotted in and around El Hondo de Amorós nature reserve in Elche/Alicante where they go to roost and rest, attracted by wetland and marshes where they spend the night to protect themselves from possible predators.
During the day they seek out crop fields, preferably cereal stubble, to forage on grains left on the ground after harvesting.
"Until a few years ago it was very common to observe them in Los Carrizales, Elche, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate specimens there due to the fact that cereal crops are practically no longer sown."
The first sighting of cranes this autumn was recorded on October 27, when a pair was spotted circling high over the Sierra del Molar.
The following day, six birds in flight landed in El Hondo nature reserve, and 19 cranes were observed foraging in corn in San Fulgencio on October 29, together with a further 23 at the side of Torrevieja lagoon.
Images: AHSA. Amigos de los Humedales del Sur de Alicante
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