The Study Of Wintering Cluster And Feeding Habitat Characteristic In Yellow River Wetland

The common crane (Grus grus) is a large wading bird with the status of national second-classprotected wild animal of China. The breeding areas in China were about32.3to53degrees northernlatitude and76to135degrees east longitude, the wintering areas were about23.5to40.5northern latitudeand87.8to122.5east longitude. The common crane belong winter bird in Henan province of China,Yellow River wetland was the important wintering grounds of common crane. In the winter from2011to2012, we investigated common crane in the eastern Henan Yellow River wetland, recorded quantity anddistribution, cluster characteristics and feeding habitat preference, the results are as follows:1) The wintering period of common crane from2011to2012, sixty groups including1249individuals were recorded, on average each group included21.75±13.53individuals. The result of quantitystatistic in different months show: The common crane arrived here in October current year, the winteringperiod is November to March next year and left in early April. The quantity and cluster size of commoncrane has no significant change in different months but has difference in5Yellow River beachs. Thequantity and cluster size were large in3of the5sample areas.2)60groups of common cranes were recorded with57flocks including1240individuals and3families including9individuals. The57flocks were divided to four groups in accordance with the clustersize of5to11,12to17,22to29,32to45by cluster analyze, respectively account for38.6%,12.28%,12.28%,36.84%of the flocks number. Result show that the common crane wintering in Yellow Riverwetland was given priority to5to11and32to45individuals each flock, accounting for77.44%of theflock number. Age structure of common crane population were adult(71.11%), sub-adult(16.77%) and juvenile(9.11%), result indicated common crane population in Yellow River wetland belong downwardtrend.3)49feeding habitat characteristic samples were obtained, analyzed by ecological factorsfrequency analysis, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Result show common cranes inYellow River wetland perferred feeding habitats with the following characteristics:(1) Food factor: Wheatfield with high coverage;(2) Terrain factor: Flat, wide field of vision;(3) Interference factor: Away fromthe village, away from road and woodland, low disturbance and near to the river.