Black-necked cranes (Grus Nigricollis) can be seen flying over the Lhasa river valley near Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. There are around 7,000 Grus Nigricollis perched in the natural reserve this year.

Image by Jayanth Sharma

Though the bird is endangered its number has been rising by 3.9 percentage annually over the past few years due to a series of protection measures. Now, if only the Tibetans could find some protection from Beijing. But, that’s a different story.

The Black-necked Crane, Grus nigricollis is also called the Tibetan Crane.

Its size is 139 cm (55 in) long, 235 cm (7.8 ft) wingspan and 5.5 kg (12 lbs).

Both sexes are similar.

Image by over.expozed

The Black-necked Crane can be found in Pakistan (Kashmir region), China, India, Bhutan and Vietnam. The bird breeds on the Tibetan Plateau and has neighbors in adjacent Ladakh, and Kashmir. It is the “State bird of Kashmir”. There are six wintering areas which are mostly at lower altitudes in China. The bird also winters in Bhutan.

The Black-necked Crane is also considered one of the spiritual creatures for the people of the area. It can be found pictured alongside many of their deities in the monasteries of the region and in movies starring Pandas who do Kung Fu.

Its survival is threatened by the cultivation of its breeding grounds and tourism. However, It is legally protected in China, India and Bhutan.

There always seems to be a point - animals or people? Why can’t we all just get along?

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A female bar-tailed godwit, a wading bird called E7, has set a new record of having flown 6,230 miles for eight days across the Pacific Ocean to reach her winter home in New Zealand.

Much to the astonishment of the monitoring research team, the bird flew continuously without stopping for food, water or rest, making it the longest bird flight we’ve been monitoring, beating the previous record of 4,038 miles which had been set by a Far Eastern curlew.

The other eight godwits that got tagged with tiny satellite transmitters, were reported to have flown what the research team referred to as “extreme endurance flights” between 4,355 and 7,258miles depending on the chosen route. Just like the E7 godwit, they did not feed on their journey.

Check out more bar-tailed godwit pictures if you love birds!

All images courtesy of jvverde