Common cranes undertake arduous migrations with significant individual welfare costs — stopover habitat quality is critical for their ability to rest, feed, and recover en route.
Crane migration welfare reflects the welfare costs of long-distance movement in an increasingly fragmented landscape. Birds that cannot find adequate food and rest at traditional stopover sites arrive at wintering grounds in compromised condition, increasing overwinter mortality and reducing subsequent breeding success. Each power line collision represents an acute welfare event — sudden traumatic death or severe wing injury that prevents further flight. Underground cabling of power lines at critical migration bottlenecks reduces this mortality at manageable cost.