Common Crane

The Common Crane, also called the Eurasian Crane, breeds across a broad swath of northern and eastern Europe and Asia, migrating in large, vocal flocks to wintering grounds in southern Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. Its overall slate-grey plumage is set off by a bold black-and-white head and neck pattern and a small patch of bare red skin on the crown, along with the drooping tertial bustle typical of large cranes.

• Body feathers are slate-grey, generally more uniform in tone than the sometimes rust-stained feathers of the Sandhill Crane.
• Head and neck feathers are strikingly patterned in black and white, with a white stripe running from behind the eye down the side of the neck, distinct from the plainer grey neck of the Sandhill Crane.
• Tertial (bustle) feathers are long, drooping, and grey with darker tips, curling over the tail in standing birds.
• The bare red crown patch interrupts feathering at the top of the head.
• Distinguish from the Demoiselle Crane, which is smaller with longer white ear-plumes and a fully black neck and breast rather than a black-and-white striped pattern.

Adults are slate-grey with a black face, throat, and foreneck, a white stripe from behind the eye to the nape, a red bare crown patch, and elongated drooping tertial bustle feathers. Sexes look alike. Juveniles have a feathered, brownish-grey head lacking the bold black-and-white pattern and red crown, which develop over the first year or so as the bird matures. Molt follows breeding, with adults undergoing a flightless period during wing molt in some breeding seasons.

Common Cranes breed across a wide range from Scandinavia and Central Europe through Russia and parts of Asia, typically in bogs, wet meadows, and forested wetlands. They are strongly migratory, forming large flocks that travel to wintering grounds in Spain, France, North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of East Asia, with major migratory staging sites used year after year.

This crane forages in wetlands and adjacent farmland, taking a varied diet of plant material, grain, and small invertebrates. It nests on the ground in wet, secluded areas, usually laying two eggs. Its call is a loud, trumpeting bugle, produced with the aid of an elongated, coiled windpipe, and flocks are often heard calling overhead during migration long before they are seen. Group dancing displays involving jumping, wing-spreading, and bowing occur both in courtship and in non-breeding social flocks.