Crested cranes: Uganda’s disappearing national bird happymamay

Thanks to the distinctive golden crown, red throat bag and slim black legs, the beloved crane in Uganda – which appears on the nation’s flag in East Africa and the weapons coat.

It is also called all national sports teams in the country after the iconic bird, but in recent years it has been retreated and the preservation specialists say this may face extinction if it is not done to protect it.

The bird is protected by the law – it provides for a life sentence and/or a fine of 20 billion Uganda ($ 5 million; 4 million pounds) for those who found that they were killed.

Returning to centuries, the cultural myths in the local Buganda protected elegant birds, which were seen as a symbol of wealth, good wealth and longevity.

It was believed that if one of the crane was killed, Kith and Kin would flow to the murderer’s house, keep standing and grieve by collecting collectively until the person feels crazy or even died.

“Such stories have installed fear, and cranes and respect will be respected and not killed,” Jimmy Mohiba, who is a major reserve in nature, Uganda, a local non -governmental organization (NGOs), told BBC.

But for farmers in West Uganda, the cranes mostly hang out, this fear is often dispelled and often only conservatives who know about the ban imposed on their killing.

“I really do not see any value in these birds because everything they do is to invade our farms and eat our crops. We are concerned about food security in this region,” the region, I told the BBC.

Another farmer agreed near a match, Fausita Aritwa, saying when she goes to the corn conspiracy she spends throughout the day chasing cranes – and if she could not get there, she is trying to get another person to stand.

“We no longer reap as much as we used to do because these birds eat everything,” she told the BBC.

Birds are also known as the stunned cranes, mostly in Uganda, but also in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

It is not angry, but it does local and seasonal movements depending on food resources, and the availability of the site of the nest and weather.

Water birds stand at a height of about 1 meter (3.2 feet), mostly in wetland areas – the banks of the river, around the dams and open herbal lands – where they multiply and feed on grass seeds, small frogs, frogs, insects and other invertebrates.

But as the human population increases, the high demand for food pushes farmers to grow in wetlands, leaving interlocking cranes with decreasing areas to connect to the house.

“In East Africa, the population has decreased terrible by more than 80 % in the past 25 years,” Adalbert Einomokonjuzi, who leads the Crane International Foundation (ICF) in East Africa, told BBC.

In the seventies of the last century, Uganda boasted over 100,000 crowned cranes, but today this number diminished only 10,000, according to Nature Uganda.

This decline witnessed the International Conservation Federation (IUCN) In its red list of endangered birds in 2012.

“Despite its purity, beauty and popularity, the bird faces a serious threat. This means that if urgent measures are not taken to reverse this trend, we may see the cranes pushing extinction.” BBC.

About mbarara we found it difficult to track birds – and only saw them in the early morning after dawn.

Specialists keep that they used to be much easier in the landscape surrounding mbarara.

Dozens of cranes have been found in recent years after being poisoned by rice and corn farmers in the LWENGO region, in the south of Central Uganda.

“One of the biggest threats against cranes is poisoning by farmers,” Gilbert Taybua, ICF, told BBC.

Mr. Taybua said he was involved in farmers to use various deterrent methods such as scarecrow to protect their crops from gas cranes.

Farmers such as Philip NTARE, from LWENGO, said that the cranes are sometimes poisoned by mistake after eating crops that were sprayed using agricultural chemicals and other pesticides.

“I just challenge them, because I grew up, knowing that a crowned lever is not supposed to be killed. But the government must think about compensating farmers for the damage of crops,” he told the BBC.

However, John Macombo, director of conservation of the Wildlife Authority in Uganda (UWA), said this is not possible.

“It is one of those precious species that enjoy freely to go anywhere, so unfortunately, the government is not responsible for any damage caused by cranes,” he told the BBC.

Sarah Kojonza, a preservation of ICF, said the cranes also face a set of other threats – not only from farmers. Without the protective cover of wetlands, their chicks are likely to be captured by eagles.

You find cranes day after day that they live in an increasingly hostile environment.

“Sometimes the reproductive areas are immersed, and at the present time some cranes are killed by electricity lines on flying,” Ms. Kojonza told the BBC.

Their exceptional beauty may put them at risk because people are increasingly seizing to be pets, according to Mr. Ainomucunguzi.

But cranes, which can live for more than two decades, hardly multiply in captivity because birds are sincere.

“He is a very unilateral bird where he gets married once, for life. This means that if one of them kills or domesticates, the possibility of finding a new mating partner is almost zero,” said Mr. Mohiba.

They attract a companion through dancing, kneeling and jumping – and they are often seen as he walks as husbands or families. The husband will determine his own lands and can be very aggressive to defend him.

And he called scientifically Balearica Regulorum GibbericepsCranes also have unique nesting patterns because they usually return to the same site annually, and often lay between two eggs and five eggs that both sexes embrace anywhere between 28 and 31 days.

Any destruction of these nesting areas affects these reproductive patterns.

One unwanted attention to the local traditional healers, who claim that parts of the beloved crane may bring sincerity from a partner – or good luck.

“Some people who hunted cranes have been arrested to take some parts of their bodies to the charming doctors in the belief that they will become rich. Or if you are a woman, your husband will never leave you,” said Mr. Taiba from ICF.

This is also something that the owners are trying to maintain – as well as alerting people to the law that protects cranes.

In an attempt to reflect the decrease in numbers, Ugandan government groups and conservative groups now bring societies to restore wetlands.

Prime Minister Museveni, who comes from the western region, urges the infringement of wetland areas, and according to the local media, announced in 2025 years of wet lands.

ICF has also recruited the guardian to monitor and ensure the protection of raising lands.

Mr. MUHEBWA from Nature Uganda said that these efforts slowly help the situation stabilize, but the lever numbers remained “very low”.

For Mr. Makombo, the future UWA’s focus will be on an example when it comes to law.

“We will arrest and try those who allow the cranes,” he said.