June 20, 2025
Omid, believed to be the last surviving Siberian crane from the flock in western Siberia, never appeared in Iran this year or last year and the fear is that he has died.
He has missed an occasional year before, but, as he is aging, his absence is worrisome especially when he has been missed two years in a row.
The crane population in eastern Siberia, which winters in China, appears fairly stable. But the western flock has for years been functionally extinct. The birds bred in western Siberia and wintered in Iran and, formerly, India.
A steady decline saw the population dwindle to four birds in 2002. The last known female died in a storm in February 2009 and reintroduction programs in Russia failed to revive the population.
Since the death of the fe male, the final bird – Omid – has faced a lonely existence as the only living Siberian Crane from the western population, fruitless undertaking two colossal migration flights each year from Siberia to wetlands near Fereydunkenar along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea in Iran.
His arrival each fall was watched and monitored not just by environmentalists but by many locals.
Omid returned to his Iranian wintering grounds in late October 2022, when a captive born female, Roya, was released in Iran and soon partnered with Omid. The birds left together on their migration in early March 2023, but birders anticipating the arrival of the cranes at a known stop-over site in Azerbaijan (where Omid was seen in 2020 and 2022) did not see either bird. Roya was found alone in northwest Iran on March 12, 2023, and was recaptured.
Omid has not been seen since he left Fereydoon Kenar in March 2023 and did not return there in autumn 2023 and 2024, sparking fears that this old-aged crane has finally perished.
