Blue cranes, South Africa’s national birds, were recently uplisted from near threatened to vulnerable due to a sharp decline in numbers. The cause of this decline is unknown, but they face several threats, including collisions with powerlines and fences, habitat loss, poisoning, and poaching. Intensive monitoring and conservation actions are needed to prevent further declines.
Did you know?
Blue cranes are almost endemic to South Africa, with only a small breeding population in Namibia. Blue cranes are a significant symbol in South Africa, where they serve as the national bird and feature on stamps and the 5-cent coin. In Xhosa and Zulu cultures, the feathers of the blue crane are significant and serve as a sign of honour, awarded to brave warriors.
Their natural habitat is the grasslands and wetlands of South Africa. Currently, most blue cranes reside in agricultural areas, where they interact with and sometimes conflict with farmers and livestock.
They feed on the seeds of sedges and grasses, as well as roots, tubers, bulbs, insects, worms, crabs, fish, frogs, reptiles, and small mammals. In agricultural areas, they will feed on cereal crops, crop pests, and livestock feed.
Blue cranes mate for life, and they are famous for their inspiring courtship displays where they jump, spray their wings, and call out. During the breeding season, they form pairs to care for their eggs and chicks. Once their chicks fledge, blue cranes congregate in large flocks of up to 1,000 birds.
Conservation
Status
Globally, blue cranes are listed as vulnerable (BirdLife International, 2021). In 2015, blue cranes in South Africa got downlisted from vulnerable to near threatened after their numbers increased in the Overberg. However, their numbers started declining over the last century (Craig, 2024), and this year they were downlisted to vulnerable (Endangered Wildlife Trust, 2025). The reason for this decline is not apparent, but research has shown that their breeding success has halved compared to 30 years ago (Craig, 2024).
Threats
The biggest threats to blue cranes are collisions with power lines and entanglement in fences. Other threats include habitat transformation, accidental poisoning, and poaching for the captive trade, traditional use, and consumption. While conflict occurs occasionally between farmers and blue cranes, most farmers are happy to have the cranes living on their farms (Craig, 2024).
Conservation in action
Collisions with power lines are a threat to many large bird species. Therefore, EWT and Eskom have partnered in a project to mark power lines that pose a significant collision risk. For blue cranes specifically, these markers are very effective in reducing collisions (Shaw, 2021).
Another organisation that plays a big part in blue crane conservation is the Overberg Crane Group. This non-profit organisation protects the largest blue crane population by mitigating human-wildlife conflict, raising awareness of blue crane conservation, and collecting biodiversity data (Overberg Crane Group, 2025). For example, in 1993, they started the CAR initiative. CAR is a citizen science project, where participants receive a route and a list of bird species to count (including blue cranes) at regular intervals. The project now has 30 years of data, providing an accurate indication of population fluctuations.
The eastern grasslands were once the species’ stronghold, but their population declined rapidly during the 1980s due to habitat loss and degradation. The KZN Crane Foundation was established in 1989 (KZN Crane Foundation, 2025) to conserve cranes by raising awareness, promoting education, and collaborating with farmers to adopt crane-friendly farming practices. Thanks to this and other conservation initiatives, the blue crane population in this area is currently stable.
Looking ahead for the Blue Crane
While the South African blue cranes appear to have adapted to living in agricultural settings, they remain dependent on conservation efforts. Since the majority of their population resides outside of protected areas, they are vulnerable to changes in land use or agricultural practices. Their populations need close monitoring to detect any further changes in their numbers. The extent of future threats, such as increased wind turbines and climate change, will have to be assessed. Extensive monitoring and research efforts have enabled the early detection of their population decline, allowing for timely conservation interventions to prevent further declines.
References
- BirdLife International. 2021. Anthropoides paradiseus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T22692109A177514877.
- Craig C.A. 2024. Conservation in a changing world: assessing the conservation status of an agriculturally adapted species, the blue crane. PhD Thesis. University of Cape Town.
- Endangered Wildlife Trust. 2025 (27 June). Blue cranes uplisted to vulnerable: A wake-up call for conservation.
- IUCN SSC Crane Specialist Group. 2024. Crane Conservation Strategy SPECIES REVIEW: BLUE CRANE (Anthropoides paradiseus)
- KZN Crane Foundation. 2025.
- Overberg Crane Group. 2025.
- Shaw, J.M., Reid, T.A., Gibbons, B.K., Pretorius, M., Jenkins, A.R., Visagie, R., Michael, M.D. and Ryan, P.G. 2021. A large-scale experiment demonstrates that line marking reduces power line collision mortality for large terrestrial birds, but not bustards, in the Karoo, South Africa. The Condor, 123(1), p.duaa067.
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