This mysterious gift giving ceremony may be a way these monogamous birds re-affirm their bonds to one another. In early winter, as the cranes arrive for the first time on the marsh, boundaries need to be defined. The marsh becomes a valuable piece of real restate and is aggressively contested. Here in Bhutan's Pobjika valley, the cranes are protected. To kill a crane carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
Pairs mate for life and the arrival of a solitary bird is a sad sight.
Ten percent of the world's black crane population winters here in Bhutan. During the day, the cranes will feed in the surrounding fields taking whatever gleanings are left over from the recent harvest. Cranes are truly omnivorous and will excavate fleshy tubers of aquatic plants, crustaceans, insects, even rodents and fish if they get a chance. Each night, these other worldly birds return to the safety of the marsh beneath the protecting walls of the monastery.