Wetland habitats along crane migration routes are critical for individual crane welfare, providing safe stopover sites where birds can rest, feed, and recover before continuing arduous migrations.
Crane migration welfare depends on the availability of adequate stopover sites distributed along migration corridors. When traditional stopover wetlands are drained, degraded, or disturbed, cranes face the welfare costs of extended flight between fewer, lower-quality rest sites. The energy demands of long-distance migration are extreme, and inadequate stopover nutrition forces birds to fly in compromised condition with higher mortality risk. Wetland conservation at key stopover sites therefore has disproportionate welfare impact — protecting a relatively small number of high-quality sites safeguards the welfare of entire populations during their most physiologically demanding period. International cooperation to protect transboundary wetland networks is essential because crane welfare spans national boundaries.