Sandhill Crane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Grus canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
The Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia.
Adults are grey; they have a red forehead, white cheeks and a long dark pointed bill. They have long dark legs which trail behind in flight and a long neck that is kept straight in flight. Immature birds have reddish brown upperparts and grey underparts. Adult cranes can reach four to five feet in height and weigh seven to twelve pounds, with a wing span of up to seven feet. Both sexes look alike.
Their breeding habitat is marshes and bogs in central and northern Canada, Alaska, part of the midwestern and southeastern United States, Siberia and Cuba. They nest in marsh vegetation or on the ground close to water. The female lays two eggs on a mound of vegetation. Cranes mate for life; both parents feed the young, called colts, who are soon able to feed themselves. The Sandhill Crane does not breed until it is two to seven years old. It can live up to 25 years in the wild; in captivity they have been known to live more than twice that span. Mated pairs stay together year round, and migrate south as a group with their offspring.
Three subspecies are resident; pulla of the Gulf Coast of USA, pratensis of Florida and Georgia and nesiotes of Cuba. Others migrate to the southwestern United States south to Mexico. The Platte River at the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American midwest is an important stopover for up to 450,000 of these birds during migration. This crane is a rare vagrant to China, South Korea and Japan and a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
These birds forage while walking in shallow water or in fields, sometimes probing with their bills. They are omnivorous, eating insects, aquatic plants and animals, rodents, seeds and berries. Outside of the nesting season, they forage in large flocks, often in cultivated areas.
This crane frequently gives a loud trumpeting call that suggests a French-style "r" rolled in the throat. Sandhill Cranes in flight can be differentiated from herons in that they fly with their necks extended and by their nearly constant calls.
Sandhill Cranes have been used as foster parents for Whooping Crane eggs and young in reintroduction schemes for that species, a project which failed as these foster-raised Whooping Cranes did not recognise other Whooping Cranes as their conspecifics—attempting instead, unsuccessfully, to pair with Sandhills.
The Florida subspecies is often seen in residential yards and these birds seem little afraid of human approach. These visitors will eat shelled corn and commercially-purchased bird seed from the ground and from feeders. They may be seen in yards in north central Florida virtually year round, often in pairs or even pairs with a juvenile crane accompanying them.
There are six subspecies recognized:
- Lesser Sandhill Crane (G. c. canadensis)
- Greater Sandhill Crane (G. c. tabida)
- Canadian Sandhill Crane (G. c. rowani)
- Florida Sandhill Crane (G. c. pratensis)
- Mississippi Sandhill Crane (G. c. pulla) Endangered
- Cuban Sandhill Crane (G. c. nesiotes)
Contents |
[edit] External links
- National Geographic's webcam at Audubon Society's Rowe Refuge, Platte River, Nebraska (with audio)
- National Audubon Society, Rowe Sanctuary, Nebraska
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Grus canadensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Meine, Curt D. and George W. Archibald (Eds). 1996. The cranes: - Status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, U.K. 294pp. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.
[edit] Gallery
 At the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Ladner, British Columbia |
 Breeding Pair At Yellowstone |
 Sandhill Crane colt |
 Adult and juvenile |
 Close-up of a Sandhill Crane's head |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- International Crane Foundation's Sandhill Crane page
- Fact sheet, taxonomic details, distribution maps, slideshow, and images of Grus canadensis at ZipcodeZoo.com.
- Crane Meadows Nature Center
- National Geographic's Crane Cam on Audubon's Rowe Santuary
- Sandhill Crane Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Sandhill Crane Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Watching Sandhill Cranes Make the Journey South from National Public Radio
- Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska - NET Television
Othello Sand Hill Crane Festival
