In the End of July, the local breeding pairs and their offspring arrive at the gathering sites which are located every 20 to 50 kilometers throughout the distribution area. At first, the bachelors and the unsuccessful breeding pairs arrive, the pairs with offspring arrive later. In September, they are joined by migrating cranes form the northern and eastern breeding areas which take a rest in Germany.

One of the most important resting sites in Europe is located at the coast of the Baltic Sea in the Rügen-Bock region. Other large resting sites exist at the lower Oder, Mecklenburg´s lake district (e.g. Müritz and “Langenhägener Seewiesen”), Rhinluch and “Havelländischem Luch” (e.g.”Linumer Fischteiche”) and for some years in Upper Lusatia. In the south-east of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower-Saxony and Hesse there are more resting sites with up to a thousand cranes.

One or more sleeping sites are the centre of every gathering or resting site. They are located in wetlands with shallow water where the cranes stand for sleeping. During the day, the birds search for food, mostly on stubble fields. Between the end of October and the beginning of November, the cranes leave Central Europe. In warm winters, small groups stay in Germany.

The Rügen-Bock region is one of the most important resting site for cranes in Europe. About half of the population that migrates along the Western European route uses this region for resting. In autumn, up to 70.000 cranes from Scandinavia and the Baltic States rest here at the same time.

Since the 1970ies, the number of cranes has increased: Reasons for this development are the protection of sleeping sites and the intensified crop and maize cultivation on extremely large areas. Apparently, the maximum resting capacity is reached: Up to 40.000 cranes use the islands Bock and Werder, 15.000 Ruegen and 15.000 the island Kirr as sleeping site.

The aerial photograph shows the shallow waters of the “Bodden”.

The Crane Information Centre regularly initiates synchronous countings at all sleeping sites in the Rügen-Bock region in September and October. The three main sites are the islands Werder and Bock, the island Kirr and “Udarser Wiek” on Rügen.

Tables of counted cranes in the last years (in German)

During the night, the cranes sleep in the shallow waters of the “Bodden” or on the islands Kirr and Oie. The surrounding water protects them against predators. In the morning, they fly to their feeding sites, in the evening they return to the sleeping site.

The sleeping sites have to be throuroghly protected. Any disturbances unsettle the birds and separate juveniles from their parents. Moreover, an escape causes additional energy use that has to be compensated by increased feeding. If the disturbance is too big, cranes will give up a sleeping site altogether. But nevertheless, visitors don´t have to renounce the impressive flights in the evening or morning. Best use the recommended lookout points for your crane observations.

Cranes need a lot of energy for the long flight to their overwintering sites. They can only accomplish the thousands of kilometres when they build up energy reserves in the form of fat depots during the resting period.

After leaving the sleeping sites, cranes fly up to 30 kilometers into the country to find maize and cereal stubble fields as well as fresh sowings of barley and wheat. Hundreds or thousands of cranes feed on fields with good availability. A single crane needs 200-300 g/day of crop.

When you discover cranes on a field or meadow, please stay in your vehicles. The birds have a flight distance of 300 meters. They sometimes tolerate observers to come closer when they stay in their vehicle. As soon as the people leave their car, the cranes fly away.

Cranes can cause damages on agricultural fields. That's why some farmers try to chase the birds away from their fields. This means a higher energy use for the cranes which is of significant meaning for their long migration route.

To help both farmers and cranes, official authorities and nature conservationists like Crane Conservation Germany cooperated with affected farmers. Together, they worked out a plan for “distraction” feedings on several fields. In 1999, the Ministry for Environment financed feedings on 17 fields with a total size of 350 hectares. In addition, Crane Conservation Germany carries through an own feeding close to the sleeping site on the islands Bock and Werder. Due to financial reasons, nowadays only six to eight sites are prepared for feeding in the Rügen-Bock region.