a ‘vulnerable’ symbol

After World War Two, there was a shortage of food, and people realised that areas in the Overberg were good for grain farming, according to Mick D’alton, co-founder of the Overberg Crane Group (OCG) and member of the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (SMA).

Following this, grain farming was promoted and as a result landowners started removing fynbos as part of their agricultural expansion, he says. The land became suitable for cranes, providing abundant food and nest sites for the species.

The population estimate for blue cranes in South Africa is currently 51 000, according to Dr Christie Craig, conservation scientist at both the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the International Crane Foundation, in a recent academic paper. Although this might seem like a substantial amount of cranes to the average person, these numbers are concerning. 

Between 2011 and 2025, there has been a 44% decline in blue cranes in South Africa, says Craig.

Recently, Craig’s research led to South Africa’s national bird, the blue crane, being reclassified and up-listed to “Vulnerable” in the regional Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini.

Both the South African and International Red Data books are updated in intervals of five to ten years, and while the global list was updated in 2021 already, the updates to the South African list this year were informed by Craig’s research, she says.

The blue crane was classified as “Near Threatened” on the regional list in 2015, based on data which indicated a generally steady population at the time, according to the South African Red Data book. However, this is no longer the case, with a recent analysis showing a population decline.

On the red list, there are three threatened categories: critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable, according to Craig. She says the status of the blue crane was assessed by tracking population trends and numbers over three generations. The research shows that blue cranes’ numbers “have declined and are predicted to decline by more than 30%”, over those three generations, which on average amounts to 37 years says Craig.

The cranes in the field pause, lifting their heads in unison at the sudden flap of a guinea fowl taking off nearby. For a moment, they stand still, necks stretched tall.

“It’s our national bird – people should be caring about it,” says Annie de Villiers, an MA (History) student at Stellenbosch University. “You can’t separate its status as a national symbol from anything. It is intrinsically entangled.”

Today, however, the blue crane doesn’t feature on any national iconography, says De Villiers. 

The blue crane has featured on the five-cent coin since 1965, she says. But it was removed from circulation in 2012, according to a media statement by the South African government. 

While the bird is a source of pride in South African culture, it has historically been at odds with agricultural practices, particularly in regions where its presence was perceived as disruptive, says De Villiers. 

Around 99% of cranes occur on private land, according to Bradley Gibbons, senior field officer at the African Crane Conservation Programme of the EWT and the International Crane Foundation.

“Farmers are really important; they’re basically the custodians of cranes, especially in the Western Cape,” says Craig. “It’s always sort of a balancing act of agricultural productivity and conservation.”

Cooperation with landowners to mitigate the threats against blue cranes cannot be forced; it must be cultivated, says Gibbons. As a field officer, he is tasked with raising awareness surrounding threats to blue cranes and other birds. 

When farmers see 300 cranes in a flock, they often ask: ‘How can they be vulnerable?’, Gibbons says. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. In reality they are seeing low chick survival rates and high mortality from power-line collisions, he says. One sweep of a disease like bird flu would put them at great risk, he adds.

According to Gibbons, a large part of the EWT’s awareness campaigns are aimed at bringing attention to the fact that blue crane conservation consists of many small changes and adjustments that landowners can make to try to help.

Blue cranes are omnivorous, and “they’re actually doing a favour for farmers in many cases by eating all the worms and the things like locusts”, he says.

D’alton, however, says that even though landowners are always interested in knowing how their conservation efforts can benefit them, “that’s not what it’s about”. Having land is not only about making a profit, but caring for everything on the land too, he says. 

Besides poison control and monitoring where flappers are needed, landowners can also help blue cranes by reducing disturbances at nest sites, Craig says.

“What can [also] sometimes happen is chicks, when they’re quite small, try to go and drink out of a water trough and then drown because they can’t get out,” says Craig. “Farmers can place rocks in the trough, which allows them to get out safely.”

Gibbons admits that blue cranes can cause damages on a farm. In some cases, when large flocks gather before the first rains, trampling damage can occur, he says. However, blue cranes do not cause any damage by eating the seedlings, according to Gibbons.

Then there is also a chance of blue cranes helping themselves to feed that farmers have put out for their sheep, says Gibbons. While this influences farmers’ attitudes towards blue cranes, Gibbons refers to it as “nature’s tax”. 

“They were there before us, and I know I need food as well, but just give them a little bit,” says Gibbons. “We have to give them some kind of respect.”

Farmers can keep blue cranes out of their feeding troughs by putting a wire around the trough, high enough so as not to be in the farm animals’ way but to stop cranes from sticking their heads and eating the grain, according to D’alton.

Gibbons described the intricacies of crane conservation as being a collaboration between blue cranes, farmers and the EWT and similar organisations.

A sudden, sharp call rings out, rising above the stillness of the veld. It cuts clear through the air, a sound at once haunting and delicate. The second bird answers, its cry lower, the two voices overlapping. When the sound fades, the silence that follows seems even deeper, as if the landscape has paused to listen. It is within this fragile balance of movement, sound and stillness, that new efforts have emerged to carve out safe spaces where the species can endure.

The Nuwejaars Wetland SMA on the Agulhas Plain in the Overberg region has brought together 25 landowners since its initial planning stages in 2002 and establishment in 2008. The landowners each chose to separate a part of their land, about 45 000 hectares in all, for conservation efforts. These efforts involve actively not farming on those pieces of land, says D’alton.

“Instead of fencing in some more areas, we want to fence in agriculture and let nature – the rest of the natural area – be one,” says D’alton. 

They have successfully reintroduced hippos, along with buffalo and threatened bird species, and have made the area safe for animals to roam, says Heather D’alton, head of communication for Nuwejaars Wetlands SMA and co-owner of LoveGreen Communications. 

“Things can recover if you give them a chance,” she says. 

The blue crane’s vulnerability as a species not only influences a farm’s physical ecosystems, but as the national bird, it also has a significant influence on South Africa as an ecosystem of its own, says Gibbons. 

“It would be quite embarrassing if the numbers go [too] low,” says Gibbons.  

Preserving the blue crane requires not only protecting its habitats and addressing immediate threats, but also fostering awareness and appreciation among communities across South Africa, according to Gibbons.

For De Villiers, the challenge is both cultural and ecological.

“Conservation succeeds when you can convince the people who dislike the bird to see its value,” she says.

Back in the field, the cranes move with unhurried grace, their pale forms almost dissolving into the grass. One lifts its head and calls, the sound carrying clear and long over the quiet land. A shadow passes overhead – another crane glides low, wings outstretched, its silhouette cutting briefly against the sky before disappearing beyond the horizon.