Still More Cranes

This post will wrap up our visit to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin earlier this month.

Black-Necked Crane

The black-necked crane is the only alpine crane in the world, residing almost exclusively at high altitudes on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalaya.

Eurasian Crane

The Eurasian Crane, also known as the Common Crane, is the most widely distributed of all cranes, occurring in over 80 countries.

Eurasian Crane, exhibiting aggression

I've saved the two North American species of cranes for last. First, the Sandhill Crane, the world's most abundant crane, with populations that are stable to increasing.

Sandhill Crane

The early spring gathering of Sandhills on the Platte River in Nebraska is among the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent, with over a quarter of a million birds present at one time.

And, lastly, the Whooping Crane, the tallest bird in North America, standing at approximately 5 feet (1.5 meters), and the rarest of all species of cranes. Their current population is estimated at approximately 600 birds.

Following is a video describing the effort to teach migration habits to young Whooping Cranes that have been raised in captivity:

I hope you've enjoyed these posts about the cranes as much as I enjoyed seeing, photographing, and learning about them. 

More Cranes

Here are some more of the beautiful cranes we saw when we visited the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, earlier this month.

All the photos in this post were achieved by shooting through a chain link fence. Although the camera did a fair job of focusing through the fence, you'll still see the blurred image of the fence in many of the shots.

Brolga (also known as Australian Crane), preening

Red-Crowned Crane (also known as Japanese Crane)

Sarus Crane

The Sarus Crane, pictured above, is the tallest flying bird in the world, standing at a height of up to 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m). It's a resident breeding bird in northern India, Nepal, Southeast Asia and Australia.

White-Naped Crane

The White-Naped Crane breeds in NE Mongolia, NE China and extreme SE Russia, and also in the Amur and Ussuri river basins. They winter in Korea, S Japan and CE China, in the Yangtze basin.

White-Naped Crane, head and neck

This crane "talked" to us the whole time we stood in front of its pen. I like to think we were having a friendly chat.

Lastly, in today's post, is the Siberian Crane. These showed some aggression, including squawking and wing flapping, when people approached their pen. It was brief, and I didn't capture any photos of that behavior. But I liked the expressiveness of their faces.

Siberian Crane

Siberian Crane

Also known as Snow Cranes, adults are nearly all snowy white except for their black primary feathers, that are visible in flight, and their brick-red faces and pinkish legs.

Siberian Crane

 

There were four more crane species that we saw that day, which I'll feature in the next post.

Cranes of Africa

When we were in Baraboo, Wisconsin earlier this month, we visited the International Crane Foundation, where pairs of the world's 15 species of cranes could be viewed during a short walk along a paved trail. It was a fascinating experience.

I'll admit my ignorance here and tell you that I'd always thought "crane" was sort of a general term that included herons. I've learned that a key difference is that cranes fly with outstretched necks, while herons tuck their necks in flight.

During our visit, we were privileged to view 13 of the 15 species of cranes. Two remained hidden while we were there: the Hooded Crane and the Demoiselle Crane.

Although we had open views of a few of the cranes, many were behind chain link fences because they are territorial and potentially aggressive. As a result of having to shoot through the fences, some of the photos will have a shadow or may look a bit distorted.

The four species of cranes featured in this post are all from Africa. I've included two pictures of each. 

Wattled Crane

Wattled Crane

Black Crowned Crane

B

Black Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane

Blue Cranes

(The background is a mural painted on a wall of their pen.)

Blue Crane

I'll have more from this visit to the International Crane Foundation in future posts.