The project will continue to hold an annual census at all known Sarus Crane sites. By coordinating the Sarus Crane counts so that they occur at the same time across all sites, a minimum estimate of the total population in Cambodia can be obtained.
The counts are held during the extreme dry season when cranes are restricted to just a few wetland areas and, therefore, the count is most representative of the entire population. The counts are all undertaken by teams of project staff sometimes assisted by trained volunteers and who have the ability to distinguish juveniles and sub-adults, thus providing essential information about recruitment rates and the success of the nest-protection schemes. The results will inform adaptive management practices of the project, and measure the success of the project in achieving the conservation goal.
The counts also provide an opportunity to raise general public interest in conservation as volunteers become part of the project and the results will be widely shared with local media.