This article will tell you about one of the mostmost interesting and large birds. It's a crane. In total, 7 species of such birds live in Russia. Of these, the most common and numerous is the common gray crane.
Nesting gray cranes in the western and northernEurope, in many territories of Russia (to the basin of the Kolyma and Transbaikalia rivers), in China and in Northern Mongolia. Also they are seen a little in Altai, in Tibet and Turkey. In winter, cranes, like most birds, usually migrate south: to East and North Africa, to Spain, France, to the Middle East, to India and to China (south and east).
Places of their nesting: in the swampy terrain and in floodplains of rivers (swamped). In the case of a shortage of wetlands, they can settle near agricultural land. Usually, for wintering cranes choose more elevated places, fairly densely covered with grassy vegetation.
Males and females practically do not differ from each otherfriend externally. The predominant color of the color of adults is gray. Only a few black feathers are colored: feathery (primary, secondary, tertiary and covering), and also feathers (their tops).
On the crown of the head, feathers are practically absent, and a patch of bare skin on it is reddish. Always with a red "cap" a gray crane walks on its head (the photo clearly demonstrates this).
The lower part of the neck, its sides, part of the head (back)and chin have a brownish-black color. On the neck and head of the bird, a white stripe stands out sharply, which extends along the sides of the head to the posterior margin, and also over the outer side of the neck.
This is a fairly large bird: height - 115 cm, and the wings have a span of up to 2 meters. Weight of males reaches 6 kg, and females - slightly less (5,900 kg). The coloring of the plumage allows the bird to hide in the forests from the enemies. The beak reaches the size up to 30 cm. Gray with red endings of feathers has a young gray crane. The extremities of the bird are dark.
Crane gray - a monogamous bird. She keeps her mate for life. Only if the female or male dies, then the surviving bird finds another companion of life. And another pair can be formed in the case of unsuccessful long attempts to have offspring.
From April to July, the breeding season lasts. As a rule, the pair is formed before the commencement of the flight to the place of future nesting. After arriving at the place, the female and male arrange the most peculiar ritual dances. They represent bouncing, flapping wings and an important prancing gait.
A plot of land is chosen above or near the water(relatively dry), necessarily among dense vegetation (thickets of reeds, etc.). This is the place for the nest. The male and the female announce the choice of a suitable place in a drawn-out voice. So they mark their territory.
The nest itself is large (more than 1 m in diameter). It is built from the most diverse material. Usually a female lays 2 eggs. The incubation period lasts up to 31 days. Both male and female hatch eggs. Soon after birth, the chicks can leave their parent's nest. Their full plumage comes in about 70 days.
Crane gray, as already noted above, byarrival at home begins to dance peculiarly. Do it either alone or in a pack. During this period the birds are very cautious, therefore it is possible to observe all this only from afar. Cranes on the nests usually never form mass gatherings, that is, pairs nest far apart.
Nest female and male build very quickly andcarelessly. As a result, it is just a bunch of brushwood collected from nearby territories. Inside the nest is a tray lined with dry grass. As a rule, older birds occupy their nests (last year's). This nest can pair a crane for several years, just every year the birds update it a little.
Crane gray in Russia is represented by twosubspecies - western and eastern. they differ little from each other. The boundaries of their distribution, as well as their subspecific independence, are relatively poorly understood in the country today. Approximately one can say that the boundary that separates these two subspecies extends along the Ural ridge. Western subspecies live in European Russia, and eastern in Asian.
And it is known that for wintering the crane is gray fromthe European part of the country flies to Africa (Morocco, Egypt, etc.), and from the eastern (living mainly in Siberia) - to the north of India or to China. An insignificant part of the gray cranes overwinter in the Transcaucasus.
At the very beginning of the mating season the gray cranesThe feathers are covered with mud and silt. This allows them to mask and hide from predators, making them less noticeable during periods of hatching and breeding their chicks.
Crane gray, like other species, begins its flight from a smooth takeoff to the wind, accelerating and opening huge wings just before take-off.
Predatory omnivores are the gray cranes: feed on plants (tubers, leaves, stems, acorns, berries, etc.), invertebrates (worms and insects), vertebrates (snakes, frogs, rodents and fish). Also, a crane can feed itself and grain, while even creating a threat to the harvest.
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