December 16, 2022
October 14, 2022
The last surviving West Siberian crane, Omid (Hope), has flown thousands of kilometers back to Iran for the 15th year to spend the winter in Fereydoonkenar on the Caspian coast of Mazandaran province.
Omid, the only known survivor of what was once a vast flock of such cranes in central Russia, arrived at his winter habitat in mid-October after a 6,000-km journey. The bird usually spends four months in the Fereydoonkenar wetland by the Caspian Sea.
Ever since illegal hunters in the north of Iran shot down his mate, Arezou (Wish), back in 2007, Omid has been migrating to and from Iran on his own. He has come to Iran every winter except for 2009 and 2015. It isnt known where he went those winters. Siberian cranes are known as monogamous birds. If a mate dies, the survivor continues alone.
The Siberian crane, also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae. They are distinctive among the cranes for the snowy white color of the adults. The only other breeding population is based in far eastern Russia and winters in China.