Tag Archives: Blue Crane

Knock before entering… A common courtesy, for example, when visiting a friend or relative’s home. Believe it or not, this simple concept can also be applied as a training tool to help calm nervous birds. A ‘knock’ signals to a bird that an aviculturist will be entering to do something in their space. This ‘something’ can be any number of routine husbandry tasks: from checking food and water buckets, to entering the pen with a large bucket to clean. Sometimes, a knock may just mean someone is coming to look in at you and toss you a treat.

On November 16, 2011, ICF received a young male Blue Crane from the National Zoological Park (NZP). The young crane, named Kito (Swahili for ‘precious child’) by ICF staff, was hatched in May 2011 and was parent–reared at NZP. Kito was donated to ICF to be paired with our female Blue Crane, Veld. Veld lost her previous mate in 2009 and, as many visitors to ICF since then may know, hasn’t been comfortable spending much time on exhibit.

In Africa, trade in cranes is a major threat to all four resident crane species: Grey Crowned, Black Crowned, Blue and Wattled Cranes (above). The African Crane Trade Project was initiated in 2006 by ICF and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), a leading conservation organization in South Africa and co-leader of the ICF/EWT Partnership for [...]