This is the Siberian crane, Leucogeranus leucogeranus.

In the rituals of the Yakut and the Yukaghir people, and other Siberian groups, shamanesses and shamans harness the spirit of these beautiful and most sacred birds. They are connected with the upper world of celestial beings, and are associated with femininity, blessing, and seasonal balance.

The Siberian crane is a migratory species, spending summers in the arctic tundra of the far north of the Eurasian continent, and winters 6000 kilometers to the south. There have historically been three disjunct populations – western, central and eastern – the eastern group being by far the largest, with a population of perhaps around 3000. The western and central groups shared a summer range and part of their migratory route, then diverged for winter. The central group, which had a flight path skirting the Himalayas, has been extinct since 2002. The western group, after years of decline, is functionally extinct, and now consists of just one bird – a male – who has lived and migrated alone to the south coast of the Caspian Sea for more than 10 years.

There are no significant threats to this species in its summer ranges. Siberia has vast areas of suitable breeding habitat, and the crane’s sacred status has protected it from being hunted. During the long migration and its stopovers, the western and central groups faced the combined dangers of: hunting by humans, industrial pollution, oil pollution and intensive agriculture. Additionally, the dropping of the levels of the Caspian Sea has had a profound impact on birdlife around the Volga Delta. Tourism growth, urban development and water management problems placed further pressure on these two groups at their respective wintering grounds.

The eastern population also faces a multitude of threats during its migration, including: the development of oil and gas pipelines, hydro-electric generation schemes, overhead power lines, road and railway developments, and water regulation and diversion. This group winters at Poyang Lake and the surrounding basin, which has been partially protected. However, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River has turned the shallower parts of the lake into grassy meadows, reducing the bird’s available habitat. This leaves them highly sensitive to other pressures.

A captive breeding program has been set up, and has had some degree of success. However, reintroduction of these birds to the extinct western and central populations is problematic, as the long and complex migration must somehow be learned.

There was a short-lived project to teach captive-bred Siberian cranes the route by imprinting them at birth to ultralight aircraft, then leading them after fledging with the help of a pilot. This had already been trialed with whooping cranes (Grus americana) in North America.

In 2012, a publicity stunt showed Vladimir Putin participating in this program. Wearing goggles and white overalls, he piloted an aircraft with a string of juvenile Siberian cranes flying behind him. In reality, shortly after the incident was filmed, the young cranes were taken aboard another plane and flown back to their place of birth, as there was no second pilot to lead them on the rest of the journey south. The project lost its funding the following year.

The experiment with whooping cranes was also canceled in 2016, when it was found that these birds, when imprinted to aircraft, were unable to socialise or breed successfully.