Photo by @TimLaman. Pair of Red-crowned Cranes in heavy snow, Hokkaido, Japan. Unpublished old favorite shot on assignment for@NatGeo. It’s hard to imagine a more elegant bird than these Cranes. Symbol of longevity and immortality in China and Japan, they mate for life. Reduced to less than 100 individuals in Japan at one point, conservation measures have increased the population to over 1000 birds in Japan now, so that’s good news. But they are now limited by habitat for breeding in summer. In mainland Asia, there are approximately 1700 in Russia, Mongolia, China, and Korea, but their population is declining do to habitat loss. Lets leave room on the planet for beauty!