Satellite Tracking of White‐naped Crane Migration and the Importance of the Korean Demilitarized Zone

Abstract

Satellite‐tracking of 15 White‐naped Cranes ( Grus vipio ) from their Japanese wintering grounds through the Korean Peninsula shows that there are four important regions for conserving migrant cranes: the Three Rivers Plain, the People’s Republic of China; Lake Khanka, Russia; Kumya, North Korea; and—most importantly—the demilitarized zone of the Korean Peninsula. Two sites along the Korean demilitarized zone, Panmunch’om and Ch’olwon, were the most heavily used stopover sites, and they present complex international conservation challenges. Cranes stopped at these sites for up to 87.1% of their total migration time; cranes migrating to Zhalong Nature Reserve, China, made it their only lengthy stop. We report the migration routes and the importance of the identified stopover sites, and we outline conservation issues at those sites.