A Demoiselle Crane (Grus virgo) was found by the Civil Protection personal at the port of Oran, western Algeria in January 2016. It was taken to the Oran section of the Forest Conservation Service where it was helped to recover its strength.
In mid-February, it was released at a daya (intermittent wetland) where some individuals of the Common Crane (Grus Grus) are wintering (see photos).
The origin of this bird remains unknown, but it’s more likely to be a genuine vagrant from the Turkish or the Black Sea population. The nearest migration and wintering areas of the species are located in eastern Africa (Egypt, Sudan and Tchad).
The Demoiselle Crane is a former breeder in Northwest Africa (from Morocco to Tunisia). The last sighting of the species in Algeria was a flock near Ain Beida in the northeast of the country on 4 March 1944 (cited in Isenmann & Moali 2000). Whereas in Morocco the species persisted almost 40 years longer, with the last observations in the breeding area were in mid-1980s and another possible sighting on 10 May 1990 (Thévenot et al. 2003).
References:
Isenmann, P. & Moali, A. 2000. Oiseaux d’Algérie / Birds of Algeria. SEOF, Paris.
Thévenot, M., Vernon, R. & Bergier, P. 2003. The Birds of Morocco. BOU Checklist No. 20. BOU, Tring.
رهو في وهران
رهو (Grus virgo) عثر عليها من طرف اعوان الوقاية بالميناء وتم احضارها لدى مصلحتنا بمحافظة الغابات وهران وتم التكفل والعناية بها لانها كانت منهكة القوى وهذا بتاريخ اواخر جانفي/يناير 2016 وقد تم اطلاق صراحها في اواسط شهر فيفري 2016 بضاية البقرة وهذا لسبب تواجد عدد قليل والمتبقي من الرحلات الاخيرة لنوع الكركي (Grus Grus) المشابه لها.
شكرا محمد الشامي
