Spotting

Sarus?

Saris?

I agree with Gordon

Gordon you are right.

Alice and Gordon, it appears this sighting was made in Latvia. :) I thought it was a sandhill also until I checked the location of the sighting.

I thought its a Red-crowned Crane(Grus japonensis)

Actually Alice, this is a very similar bird called the Eurasian or Common Crane (Grus grus) rather than a Sandhill Crane, but they look very similar on first glance. They are about the same size and have similar coloring, the red patch on top of the head. The back of the neck is lighter and the front darker than a Sandhill. We occasionally get Eurasian Cranes in the US. They probably get mixed in with Sandhills that nest in Siberia but winter in the southern US. Very cool sighting!

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Cran... for more information.

Sandhill Crane