A gray crane with a white head and neck that also winters in Japan.
Adults have a white head and neck, a slate-gray body and a red forehead patch. The wingtips and tail are black.
Wintering Hooded Cranes do not simply return to one fixed roost each evening. In Izumi and Akune, Kyushu, researchers identified individuals from 1980 to 1984. Most spent the day feeding near a roost; about 10% flew elsewhere in the morning and returned at dusk. At night, all gathered at two communal roosts.
A 1983–1986 study in Yashiro, western Japan, found that terraced paddies were the main roosts in November and December, while pond use increased after January. Below 0°C, most cranes roosted in pond water, avoiding ice-covered surfaces. The authors suggested that the paddy roosts had frozen. These observations show seasonal shifts in roost choice at two wintering areas, linked to temperature and the availability of resting places.
IUCN Red List · Vulnerable (VU) · Global, species-level assessment
The Hooded Crane was assessed as Vulnerable (VU) in the 2025 global IUCN Red List. The assessment points to a small number of wintering locations and the loss or degradation of wetlands and migration sites. It also estimates that the global population has increased over roughly three generations. BirdLife International’s assessment history notes that many cranes are concentrated at a few wintering sites, including Izumi in Japan and Suncheon Bay in South Korea, while some former sites have been abandoned. A field study in Yashiro, western Japan, also recorded the loss of feeding areas and roosts and effects from human activity. The global category and the historical local study describe different geographic scales.