BLUE CRANE

BLUE CRANE

Grus paradisea

afrikaans: Bloukraanvoёl

Image

100–120 cm; 4–5.5 kg

Description

A blue-grey crane with a bulbous head and long, trailing ‘tail’ (formed by elongated inner secondaries and tertials). In flight, shows less contrast between flight feathers and coverts than other cranes. Juv. lacks long ‘tail’ and is paler grey, especially on head.

Voice

Loud, nasal ‘kraaaank’.

Status and biology

VULNERABLE. Endemic. Resident and local nomad; population some 20 000 birds, most in agricultural lands in W Cape and adjacent Karoo; scarce and decreasing in eastern grassland; small isolated population in n Namibia. In pairs or family groups when br., but non-br. flocks contain hundreds of birds. Occasionally hybridises with Wattled Crane.