The Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) is the tallest flying bird in the world!
Hear the most fabulous sound of the Sarus Crane trumpeting in the Bharatpur wetlands!
According to the International Crane Foundation:
"This is the tallest crane species standing at six feet tall, with a wingspan of eight feet. Body plumage is light gray. The crown is covered with smooth greenish skin. The rest of the head, throat, and the upper neck are covered with rough orange/red skin. The ear is marked by a small area of grayish white feathers on each side of the face. Long, black hair-like bristles cover parts of the upper throat and neck. In the Indian Sarus Crane G. a. antigone, white feathers form a collar in between the bare reddish skin of the upper neck and the gray feathers of the lower neck.
The heads of juveniles are covered with cinnamon brown feathers, and the grayish ear patch is not yet obvious. Body plumage changes from cinnamon brown to gray as the bird matures.
Range: The current range of the Indian Sarus Crane G. a. antigone includes the plains of northern, northwestern, and western India and the western half of Nepal's Terai Lowlands. Small numbers are also observed in Pakistan. The Eastern Sarus Crane G. a. sharpii formally occurred throughout Indochina. Over the last fifty years it has been decimated throughout this range, but still occurs in smaller numbers in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Eastern Sarus Cranes in Yunnan Province (China) and Lao People's Democratic Republic are either rare or recently extirpated. The Eastern Sarus in Thailand was thought extirpated in the mid-20th Century. The Australian Sarus Crane G. a. gilli, occurs in northeastern Australia.
Map Range, Migration and Nesting Map
Habitat & Ecology:
Sarus cranes are mostly non-migratory in India, but often make short seasonal movements between dry and wet season habitats in Southeast Asia and Australia. The Indian Sarus Cranes G. a. antigone have adapted to the dense human population in India, and interact closely with people in areas where traditions of tolerance prevail. Similar adaptations occur with the Eastern Sarus G. a. sharpii in some regions of Myanmar.
Mated pairs of cranes, including Sarus Cranes, engage in unison calling, which is a complex and extended series of calls where male and female vocalizations differ but are coordinated. The birds stand in a specific posture, usually with their heads thrown back and beaks skyward during the display. In Sarus Cranes the female initiates the display and utters two calls for each male call. The male always lifts up his wings over his back during the unison call while the female keeps her wings folded at her sides. All cranes engage in dancing, which includes various behaviors such as bowing, jumping, running, stick or grass tossing, and wing flapping. Dancing can occur at any age and is commonly associated with courtship, however, it is generally believed to be a normal part of motor development for cranes and can serve to thwart aggression, relieve tension, and strengthen the pair bond."
Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary of Bharatpur in Rajasthan is 175 km from Jaipur & 185 km from Delhi. Bharatpur National Park is famous for its large variety of birds in all over the world. The tallest of all flying birds, the Sarus Crane is easily distinguished from other cranes in the region by the overall grey colour and the contrasting red head and upper neck. The main breeding season is during the rainy season.
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
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Sarus Cranes in Bharatpurby WildFilmsIndia1,308 views
Wow!!
Ichneumonidae2 2 months ago