• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Climate Change maps
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Formerly considered conspecific with B. regulorum (lumped species sometimes erroneously listed as B. regulorum), but differences revealed by electrophoresis, together with those in vocalizations, bare parts and plumage, as well as in genetic evidence (Krajewski & King 1996, Krajewski et al. 2010), advocate recognition of two species. Two subspecies recognized.

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	A2bcd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Vulnerable	A2bcd
2016	Vulnerable	A4bcd
2012	Vulnerable	A4bcd
2010	Vulnerable	A4b,c,d
2008	Near Threatened	A2b,c,d,e; A3b,c,d,e; A4b,c,d,e
2006	Near Threatened
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	continent	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	6,510,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	44000-74000 mature individuals	medium	suspected	2024
Population trend	decreasing	medium	suspected	-
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	6-31%	-	-	-
Generation length	12.09 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The western sub-population (B. p. pavonina) is thought to number 20,000 to 25,000 individuals in Chad alone (Defos Du Rau et al. in prep. 2024) following the survey of new sites in the south and east of the country (Beilfuss 2019). All other country estimates for this subpopulation date to 2004, with an additional total of approximately 9,400 individuals (Beilfuss et al. 2005). The previous total estimate for this subspecies was approximately 15,000 in 2004 (Beilfuss et al. 2005), but the recently recorded birds are thought to be in addition to previous estimates and probably do not represent redistribution, as this area had simply not been surveyed before.
The eastern subpopulation (B. p. ceciliae) was estimated at 28,000-55,000 individuals in 2004 (Beilfuss et al. 2007), but remains dominated by the large count of 36,823 individuals derived from aerial surveys of the Sudd, South Sudan (Mefit-Babtie 1983). Recent investigations into the population present in Gambella, south-west Ethiopia (and close to the Sudd) reveal a large dry season population of 9,138 to 19,849 individuals (Aticho et al. 2024).  More recent surveys of the population size at Lake Tana in Ethiopia in 2015-2016 estimate the population size in that region at approximately 2,100 to 2,600 individuals, in wet and dry seasons, respectively (Zelelew et al. 2020). The previous estimate for this site was 1,500-2,000.
This gives a total suspected population size of 66,000-111,000 individuals, roughly equivalent to 44,000-74,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: This long-lived species suffered a rapid population reduction due to drought and associated habitat loss and increased pressure from people across the range, including trapping for trade (Fry 1987, Williams et al. 2003, Beilfus et al. 2007, Kone et al. 2007, Morrison 2019, Archibald et al. 2020). Rapid losses occurred throughout northern Nigeria, prior to the 1990s (Fry 1987, Meine and Archibald 1996) where it was previously 'plentifully distributed north of 10 degrees latitude' (Walkenshaw 1964) and considered to hold a large population (Morrison 2009). In Mali the population was estimated at 7,000-8,000 in 1985 (Urban 1988) but fell very rapidly to 600 by 2000/2001 (Williams et al. 2003) and has continued to decline to below 500 individuals (Beilfuss et al. 2007), while in Burkina Faso where 1,400-1,500 in the 1970s fell to approximately 50 by 2004 (Beilfuss et al. 2007). In Ghana it was previously not uncommon (Grimes 1987) but was noted to be declining very rapidly (Tréca 1996) while by 2001 there were thought fewer than 50 and declining (Williams et al. 2003). While these very rapid reductions in the western part of the range appear to have stabilised by the mid-1990s (Archibald and Meine 1996, Williams et al. 2003, Archibald et al. 2020), threats have not ceased and there is particular uncertainty over current trends due to the limited recent data from the Sudd swamp in South Sudan (Beilfuss et al. 2007). The single largest count of 36,823 was made at this site, which formed the bulk of a previous population estimate of 50,000–70,000 for the eastern subpopulation (Beilfuss et al. 2007) and creates large uncertainty in population and trend estimates. Despite large numbers being newly documented at Gambella in western Ethiopia  (9,138–19,849 in the dry season) (Aticho et al. 2024) the trend of this subpopulation remains highly uncertain until large-scale monitoring can be carried out. New investigations have located large concentrations previously unrecorded in south eastern Chad (Beilfuss 2019) and documented the occurrence of large numbers at Gambella in south-west Ethiopia (Aticho et al. 2024), neither of which are likely to have been included in previous published population estimates.
With the very long three-generation length for the species, 36 years, still reaching back into the period of rapid reductions due to drought and habitat changes in the 1980s, a precautionary range of the past rate of population reduction since 1988 is -31.3% to -6%, based on revised 1985 population sizes in Beilfuss et al. (2007) (see population size section) compared with updated values based on the 2004 data (Beilfuss et al. 2007) and including the same additional and updated values.
Black Crowned Crane still faces several ongoing threats, including some with high impact such as habitat loss and degradation, hunting, poaching and trapping, and disturbance, and emerging threats such as the development of energy infrastructure (Diop 2015, Diagana and Diawara 2015, Lecoq et al. 2015, Diagana 2016). While the discovery of large numbers of Black Crowned Cranes at new sites is encouraging, they do not appear to relate to increases in the total population. Hence, while the rapid reductions seen in the past appear to have slowed, it is plausible that there is still a slow ongoing reduction in the population.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Benin	extant	vagrant	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	vagrant	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	vagrant	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	possibly extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	vagrant
Egypt	extant	vagrant
Eritrea	extant	vagrant
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	possibly extinct	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	vagrant
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	vagrant
Uganda	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Cameroon	Logone flood-plain
Cameroon	Waza National Park
Chad	Lake Fitri
Chad	Zakouma National Park
Mauritania	Diawling National Park
Mauritania	Gâat Mahmoûdé
Nigeria	Chad Basin National Park: Chingurmi - Duguma Sector
Senegal	Djoudj wetlands
South Sudan	Lake Abiad (South Sudan)
South Sudan	Sudd (Bahr-el-Jebel system)
Sudan	Lake Abiad (Sudan)
Sudan	Lake Kundi

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	major	resident
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Freshwater Lakes	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Droughts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Energy production & mining	Oil & gas drilling	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Human intrusions & disturbance	War, civil unrest & military exercises	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Species disturbance, Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Abstraction of surface water (unknown use)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Dams (size unknown)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	national, international
Wearing apparel, accessories	national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Black Crowned Crane Balearica pavonina. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-crowned-crane-balearica-pavonina on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.