The grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) (also called crowned crane) is a large wading bird from the family of cranes (Gruidae).
Grey crown cranes have a shorter beak than other cranes, which usually have an elongated beak. On the head the animal has golden crown feathers. They have a grey plumage and red wattles at the throat. Both sexes have the same plumage. The body length is 100 to 110 cm and the weight 3 to 4 kg. The call consists of two syllables and sounds like ma-ham.
Grey crowned cranes are the only cranes that regularly sit in trees. They eat insects and small mammals that they find in herds of hoofed animals that they sometimes follow. Outside the breeding season the bird leads a wandering life. They're stand-up birds.
Photographed in Ouwehands Dierenpark
We are Loek and Karin Lobel, and our passion is animal photography, both in the wild and in zoos.
We are loek en Karin Lobel and we love to take pictures in the wild but also in the Zoo...
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