Study on time budgets and behavioral rhythm of wintering Siberian Cranes in a lotus pond reclamation area in Poyang Lake

Poyang Lake,Jiangxi Province,is the largest lake in China.Many waterbirds inhabit its wetlands,including endangered species such as the Siberian Crane（Grus leucogeranus）,of which 95% of known individuals occur in the area.This species is currently listed in the First Category of National Key Protected Wildlife Species in China and among the critically endangered,according to the IUCN;its global population numbers 3500-4000 individuals.Many cranes once foraged in Poyang Lake’s natural habitat during winter,but an increasing number have begun foraging in adjacent artificial wetlands,such as rice paddies and lotus ponds.Since the winter of 2012,less than 100 cranes had been foraging in the Wuxing lotus pond reclamation area,but by the winter of 2016,this number had surged to more than 1,000 individuals.With no information available on how long it took these cranes to adapt to this artificial habitat,what their time budget and behavior rhythms within it were,and what factors affected their wintering behavior.Therefore,from December 2016 to March 2017,instantaneous scan-sampling methods were used in-to our knowledge-the first research of its type in Chinese artificial wetlands on the wintering behavior of Siberian Cranes in a lotus pond reclamation habitat in Poyang Lake.A total2560 times and 23219 individual-time（18031 individual-time for adults and 5188 individual-time for subadults）were scanned.Seven behavioral activities were recognized:foraging,resting,grooming,vigilance,social,flying,and locomotion.Major behaviors included foraging（41.78%）,vigilance（25.02%）,grooming（15.00%）,and resting（10.84%）.Siberian Cranes in lotus pond habitats conserved energy by spending more time resting and grooming.Adult vigilance(F1,12=38. 975,P