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Sandhill Crane

Grus canadensisOrder: GRUIFORMES Family: Cranes (Gruidae)
Codes: Common Name: SACR Scientific Name: GRUCAN ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176177
Least Concern
 
Sandhill Crane
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Overview

Sandhill Crane: Large wading bird with gray body, white cheeks, chin, upper throat, and bright red cap. Bill is dark and eyes are yellow. Legs and feet are black. Direct, steady flight on heavy and labored wing beats. Slow downstroke, rapid and jerky upstroke. Flies in V or straight line formation.

Range and Habitat

Sandhill Crane: Breeds from Siberia and Alaska east across Arctic Canada to Hudson Bay and south to western Ontario, with isolated populations in the Rocky Mountains, northern prairies, Great Lakes region, and in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. Spends winters in California's Central Valley, and across southern states from Arizona to Florida. Preferred habitats include large freshwater marshes, prairie ponds, and marshy tundra; also found on prairies and grain fields during migration and in winter.

Topo Map: Long-legged-like Body


Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kar-r-r-r-o-o-o"

Interesting Facts

 Sandhill Cranes are noted for their elaborate courtship displays. Two displays are used to form mating pairs while three other displays occur only between mates and serve to maintain the pair bond.

 A crane fossil approximately ten million years old was found in Nebraska and is structurally identical to the modern Sandhill Crane, making it the oldest known bird species still surviving.

 They frequently preen with vegetation and mud stained with iron oxide resulting in a reddish brown color rather than their natural gray.

 A group of cranes has many collective nouns, including a "construction", "dance", "sedge", "siege", and "swoop" of cranes.


Bird Term Glossary



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Sandhill Crane

Related Birds

Great Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Whooping Crane
Turkey Vulture
Common Crane
.
Family Crane (Gruidae)_blue
Species Grus canadensis
Length34 - 48 Inches
Wingspan81.5 Inches

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane: Large wading bird with gray body, white cheeks, chin, upper throat, and bright red cap. Bill is dark and eyes are yellow. Legs and feet are black. Direct, steady flight on heavy and labored wing beats. Slow downstroke, rapid and jerky upstroke. Flies in V or straight line formation.

● Song: "kar-r-r-r-o-o-o"

● Foraging & Feeding: Sandhill Crane: Eats grains, berries, small mammals, insects, snails, reptiles, and amphibians. Uses bill to probe for subsurface food and glean seeds and other foods; forages on land or in shallow marshes.

● Breeding & nesting: Sandhill Crane: Two buff or olive eggs spotted with olive or brown are laid in a ground nest lined with stems and twigs, and built near water. Incubation ranges between 28 and 32 days and is carried out by both parents during the day, but only by the female at night.

● Similar species: Sandhill Crane: Whooping Crane is white with black primaries.

Flight Pattern

Heavy, labored, steady wing beats with slow downstroke., Rapid jerky upstroke.
Sandhill Crane Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Sandhill Crane: Breeds from Siberia and Alaska east across Arctic Canada to Hudson Bay and south to western Ontario, with isolated populations in the Rocky Mountains, northern prairies, Great Lakes region, and in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. Spends winters in California's Central Valley, and across southern states from Arizona to Florida. Preferred habitats include large freshwater marshes, prairie ponds, and marshy tundra; also found on prairies and grain fields during migration and in winter.
BreedingMonogamous, Mates for life
PopulationCommon to fairly common
MigrationSome migrate
Weight118.4 Ounces
Long-legged-like BodyX
CapX
The area on top of the head of the bird.
ChinX
The area of the face just below the bill.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX