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Balearica regulorum
Two grey crowned cranes mirroring each other by a pool at Usa River, Arusha, Tanzania. The Grey Crowned Crane is about 1 m tall and weighs 3.5 kg. Its body plumage is mainly grey. The wings are also predominantly white, but contain feathers with a range of colours. The head has a crown of stiff golden feathers. The sides of the face are white, and there is a bright red inflatable throat pouch. The bill is relatively short and grey, and the legs are black. The sexes are similar, although males tend to be slightly larger. Young birds are greyer than adults, with a feathered buff face
It occurs in dry savannah in Africa south of the Sahara, although it nests in somewhat wetter habitats. This animal does not migrate.
Spotted on Nov 23, 2011
Submitted on Feb 1, 2012
7 Comments
Thanks in advance, Gordon :) Yes, I think you'll enjoy visiting Tanzania, not only for the national park safari experience in general but also for the abundance of bird life here. Hope you'll be able to make the trip.
I might be able to help some. I've not been to Africa; most of my work was done at a crane captive breeding facility specializing in the conservation and reintroduction of endangered species of those birds, but we had crowned cranes at that location for education purposes. My international work was done in Southeast Asia. That being said, my interests range widely and would be happy to help where I can. Would love to visit your part of the world someday though.
Thanks again, Gordon. Great to know that there's an avifauna expert here :) I've taken lots of bird photos in the past three months since I live in the border of Arusha National Park but unfortunately I don't know their names. Hope you could help ID my future posts.
You're quite welcome. Grey crowned and black crowned cranes are often confused with each other--very easy to do as they look so much alike. And, of course, they both have that golden crown, which really draws your attention away from other characteristics used to identify the two species. I used to work with cranes, including these two species, so have a bit of an advantage....grin.
You're right! Thanks for pointing this out, Gordon :) I'll make the corrections.
I love taking photos but I'm poor at identifying bird species and any helpful comments from avifauna enthusiasts are appreciated.
Nice spotting! I might add that these lovely birds are actually gray crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) rather than black crowned cranes. Compare these two species at:
Gray: http://www.savingcranes.org/grey-crowned...
Black: http://www.savingcranes.org/black-crowne...
Mouse over the little thumbnails below the photos in the upper right of each page to see examples.
Hi Jinky! I see you have entered this lovely spotting into the 2011 best wildlife photo mission. As this competition has now ended, please can you enter this into the 2012 contest instead? Thanks!