Roost Site Selection of the Common Crane in Its Largest European Stop-Over Site

Common Cranes in Hortobágy National Park (Hungary) prefer only 44% of suitable wetlands for roosting, with site selection driven by conservation management, wetland type and size, and disturbance factors. Artificially flooded marshes and large fishponds, managed through controlled flooding or drainage aligned with migratory periods, are critical for supporting Crane staging. This study highlights the importance of species-specific wetland management to sustain mass migrations of wetland birds in one of Europe's largest stop-over sites.

Végvári, Z., & Barta, Z. (2015). Roost Site Selection of the Common Crane in Its Largest European Stop-Over Site. Ardea, 103(2), 175–181. https://doi.org/10.5253/arde.v103i2.a6