Any of 15 species of tall wading birds of the family
Gruidae (order Gruiformes). Superficially, cranes resemble
herons but usually are larger and have a partly
naked head, a heavier bill, more compact
plumage, and an elevated hind toe. In flight the long neck is
stretched out in front, the
stiltlike legs trailing out behind.
Cranes form an
ancient group, the earliest
fossils having been recovered from Eocene deposits in
North America. Living forms are found worldwide except in
South America, but populations of many are endangered by hunting and habitat destruction.
These graceful
terrestrial birds stalk about in
marshes and on plains, eating small animals of all sorts as well as grain and grass shoots. Two
olive-gray eggs spotted with brown are laid in a nest of grasses and weed stalks on drier ground in
marsh or
field. The same nest may be used year after year. The brownish,
downy young can run about shortly after hatching. The
trachea (windpipe) is simple in the
chick but lengthens with age, coiling upon itself like a
French horn. It lies buried in the hollow keel of the breastbone and reaches a length of 1.5 m (5 feet) in the adult
whooping crane (q.v.; Grus americana).
The
sandhill crane (G. canadensis) breeds from
Alaska to
Hudson Bay; it formerly bred in south-central
Canada and the
Great Lakes region of the
United States but is now rare in these regions. This brownish-gray crane is about 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 inches) long. Its call is long, harsh, and penetrating. The
Florida sandhill crane (G. c. pratensis), a smaller race, breeds in
Florida and southern
Georgia and is nonmigratory. Other subspecies of sandhills are classified as rare or endangered. The
common crane (G. grus) breeds in
Europe and northern
Asia, wintering in large flocks in northern
Africa,
India, and
China. The
Australian crane, native companion, or brolga (G. rubicunda), lives in
Australia and southern
New Guinea. The
demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo) breeds in
Algeria, southeastern
Europe, and
Central Asia; the crowned crane (Balearica pavonina
regulorum), over nearly all of
Africa; and the
wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus), in eastern and southern Africa.