SOUTH African environmentalists yesterday called on the general public to help count the dwindling numbers of the country’s critically endangered national bird, the blue crane. The bird, believed to number only around 20000, is mainly found in the Western Cape, which is where the main counting effort for the species will take place on July 30 and 31. Conservationists hope to remove South Africa’s three crane species from any threatened list. The blue and the wattled cranes are listed as critically endangered, while the crowned crane is listed as endangered within South Africa.