The
Sandhill Crane is a large
craneCranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
of
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and extreme northeastern
SiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. The common name of this bird references
habitat* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
like that at the
Platte RiverThe Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to...
, on the edge of
NebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
's Sandhills in the American Midwest. This is the most important stopover area for the Lesser Sandhill Crane (
Grus canadensis canadensis), with up to 450,000 of these birds
migratingBird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
through annually.
Description
Adults are gray overall; during breeding, the
plumagePlumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
is usually much worn and stained, particularly in the migratory populations, and looks nearly
ochreOchre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
. The average weight of the larger male is 4.57 kg (10.1 lb), while the average weight of females is 4.02 kg (8.9 lb), with a range of 2.7 to 6.7 kg (6 to 14.8 lb) across the subspecies. The Sandhill Crane has a red forehead, white cheeks and a long dark pointed
billThe beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
. Its long dark legs trail behind in flight, and the long neck is kept straight in flight. Immature birds have reddish brown upperparts and gray underparts. The sexes look alike. Size varies among the different
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. This crane frequently gives a loud trumpeting call that suggests a French-style "r" rolled in the throat, and they can be heard from a long distance.
Mated pairs of cranes engage in "unison calling." The cranes stand close together, calling in a synchronized and complex duet. The female makes two calls for every single call of the male.
The only other large grayish-bodied bird of
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
is the
Great Blue HeronThe Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
. This
heronThe herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
is of similar dimensions to the Sandhill Crane and is sometimes mistakenly called a crane, even though it is very different in plumage details and build. Like other herons, it flies with its neck tucked toward the body.
The sandhill crane's large wingspan, typically 1.65 to 2.1 m (5.4 to 6.9 ft), makes this a very skilled
soaringGliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust. It is employed by gliding animals and by aircraft such as gliders. The most common human application of gliding flight is in sport and recreation using aircraft designed for this purpose...
bird similar in style to hawks and
eagleEagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
s. Utilizing thermals to obtain lift, they can stay aloft for many hours, requiring only occasional flapping of their wings and consequently expending little energy. With migratory flocks containing hundreds of birds, they can create clear outlines of the normally invisible rising columns of air (thermals) that they ride.
The Sandhill Crane flies south for the winter. In their wintering areas they form flocks of over 10,000 birds. One place to observe this is at
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife RefugeThe Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge , in southern Socorro County, New Mexico, is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It sits near the Rio Grande astride New Mexico Route 1, formerly U.S. Highway 85. The refuge was founded in 1939....
, 100 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. There is an annual Sandhill Crane Festival in November.
Fossil record
The Sandhill Crane has one of the longest
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
histories of any extant bird. A 10-million-year-old crane fossil from
NebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
is often cited as being of this
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, but this is more likely from a prehistoric relative or the direct ancestor of the Sandhill Crane and may not belong in the
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Grus. The oldest unequivocal Sandhill Crane fossil is "just" 2.5 million years old, over one and a half times older than the earliest remains of most living species of birds, which are primarily found from after the
PlioceneThe Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
/
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
boundary some 1.8 million years ago. As these ancient Sandhill Cranes varied as much in size as the present-day birds, even those
PlioceneThe Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
fossils were sometimes described as new species.
Grus haydeni on the other hand may or may not have been a prehistoric relative of the living species, or it may actually comprise material of the Sandhill Crane and its ancestor.
Subspecies and evolution
There is considerable variation in size (much of which is
clinalIn biology, an ecocline or simply cline describes an ecotone in which a series of biocommunities display continuous gradient...
) and in migratory habits. A female of
G. c. canadensis averages 7.4 lbs (3.46 kg), 37 in (94 cm) in length and has a wingspan of 5.3 ft (1.6 m). A male of
G. c. tabida averages 11 lbs (5 kg), 47 in (119 cm) in length and has a wingspan of 7 ft (2.12 m). The southern subspecies (along with
G. c. rowani) are intermediate, roughly according to
Bergmann's RuleBergmann's rule is an ecogeographic principle that states that within a broadly distributed genus, species of larger size are found in colder environments, and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions. Although originally formulated in terms of species within a genus, it has often been...
.
Three
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
are resident;
pulla of the
Gulf Coast of the U.S.The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...
,
pratensis of
FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and
nesiotes of
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. The northern populations exist as fragmented remains in the contiguous U.S. and a large and contiguous population from Canada to Beringia. These migrate to the southwestern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. This crane is a rare vagrant to
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
,
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and a very rare vagrant to
western EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
.
Six subspecies have been recognized in recent times:
- Lesser Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis canadensis
- Cuban Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis nesiotes – ESA
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
: Endangered
- Florida Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis pratensis – ESA
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
: Endangered
- Mississippi Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis pulla – ESA: Endangered
- Canadian Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis rowani
- Greater Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis tabida
The Canadian Sandhill Crane is morphologically not reliably distinct and was never unequivocally accepted as valid subspecies. The other can be somewhat more reliably distinguished in hand by measurements and plumage details, apart from the size differences already mentioned. Unequivocal identification often requires location information, which is often impossible in migrating birds.
Analysis of control region mtDNA
haplotypeA haplotype in genetics is a combination of alleles at adjacent locations on the chromosome that are transmitted together...
data shows 2 major lineages, one including the
Lesser Sandhill Crane or
Little Brown Crane, the
ArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
and the
subarcticThe Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and northern Mongolia...
migratory population. The other lineages can be divided into a migratory and some indistinct clusters which can be matched to the resident subspecies. The Lesser and Greater Sandhill Cranes are quite distinct, their divergence dating roughly to some time during the Late Pliocene or
Early PleistoceneCalabrian is a subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Geologic time scale. ~1.8 Ma.—781,000 years ago ± 5,000 years, a period of ~.The end of the stage is defined by the last magnetic pole reversal and plunge in to an ice age and global drying possibly colder and drier than the late Miocene ...
, some 2.3–1.2 million years ago (mya). It seems as if glaciation fragmented off a founder population of the Lesser Sandhill Crane, because during each major
ice ageAn ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
its present breeding range was frozen year-round. Still, Sandhill Cranes are amply documented from fossil and
subfossilSubfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
remains right to the modern era. Conceivably, they might be considered distinct species already, a
monotypicIn biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
G. canadensis and the
Greater Sandhill Crane G. pratensis, which would include the other populations.
It appears as if the scant differences between southern Canadian and western U.S. populations result from
genetic driftGenetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
due to the recent reduction in population and range fragmentation; until the early 20th century the southern migratory birds occupied a much larger and continuous range. Thus, the subspecies
rowani may well be abandoned.
The two southern U.S. resident populations are somewhat more distinct, while the Cuban population has been comparatively little studied but appears to have been established on the island for a long time. These and the migratory Greater Sandhill Crane proper form a group of lineages that diverged much more recently from a range in the southern U.S. and maybe northern Mexico, where they would have been resident. The southern migratory population would then represent a later re-expansion which (re-)
evolveEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
d their migratory habits independent from the northernmost birds, the geographically separated populations expanding rapidly in numbers when more habitat was available as the last ice age ended.
Status and conservation
Though the Sandhill Crane is not considered threatened as a species, the three southernmost subspecies are quite rare. While the migratory birds could at least choose secure breeding habitat, the resident populations could not, and many subpopulations were destroyed by hunting or habitat change. However, initially the Greater Sandhill crane proper suffered most from persecution; by 1940 probably fewer than 1,000 birds remained. They have since increased greatly again, though with nearly 100,000 individuals they are still less plentiful than the Lesser Sandhill Crane, which numbers over 400,000 individuals, making the species the most plentiful crane alive today.
The Florida Sandhill Crane is far less common, with some 5,000 individuals remaining. They are most threatened by
habitat destructionHabitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...
and probably depend on human management in the long run. In Florida, it is protected, and if killed, carries a very high monetary penalty. This subspecies is under protection of state and federal law at this time. Since the loss of habitat is a somewhat controllable cause of a declining population, habitat preservation is a valuable management measure. The current outlook for the Florida sandhill crane, if it can be maintained on the protected habitats, is good. Transplanting wild birds, as well as introducing captive-reared birds into suitable areas where crane numbers are low, appears to be a viable technique in the management of this threatened species. It is hoped that these management strategies, plus continued ecological research, will prevent the Florida sandhill crane from reaching a more critical status.
The Mississippi Sandhill Crane has most drastically declined in range; it used to occur along most of the northern
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
coast and its range was at one time nearly parapatric with that of its eastern neighbor (compare the
Mottled DuckThe Mottled Duck or Mottled Mallard is a medium-sized dabbling duck. It is intermediate in appearance between the female Mallard and the American Black Duck. It is closely related to those species, and is sometimes considered a subspecies of the former, but this is inappropriate .There are two...
); today only 25 breeding pairs exist in an intensively managed population, but this seems at least stable in recent times. Some 300 Cuban Sandhill Cranes remain; this is the least-known of the populations.
The Mississippi Sandhill Crane has become the first bird to have a young hatched where an egg was fertilized by a sperm that was previously thawed out from a cryogenic state. This occurred at the Audubon Institute as part of this subspecies' Endangered Species Recovery Plan.
Sandhill Cranes have been used as foster parents for
Whooping CraneThe whooping crane , the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild...
eggs and young in reintroduction schemes for that species. This project failed as these foster-raised Whooping Cranes
imprintedImprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior...
on their foster parents and later did not recognize other Whooping Cranes as their conspecifics – attempting instead, unsuccessfully, to pair with Sandhill Cranes.
Vagrancy
Sandhill Crane has reached Europe as a vagrant on a number of occasions. The first British record was on
Fair IsleFair Isle is an island in northern Scotland, lying around halfway between mainland Shetland and the Orkney islands. It is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting.-Geography:...
in April 1981, and the second was in Shetland in 1991.
See also
- Cranes in Britain
Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes. Two species occur as wild birds in Britain: the Common Crane, a scarce migrant and very localised breeding resident, and the Sandhill Crane, an extreme vagrant from North America...
- Grulla National Wildlife Refuge
Grulla National Wildlife Refuge is located primarily in eastern New Mexico in Roosevelt County, southwest of the intersection of State Highway 88 and the Texas - New Mexico border about 25 miles southeast of Portales, New Mexico and southeast of the tiny community of Arch...
- Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge
Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge is the oldest National Wildlife Refuge in the state of Texas, having been established in 1935. It is located about twenty miles south of Muleshoe, the seat of Bailey County...
External links
- International Crane Foundation's Sandhill Crane page
- Audio file of cranes "unison calling"
- Sandhill Crane Bird Sound
- Bird of the Week: Sandhill Crane - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Sandhill Crane Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Sandhill Crane Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- The Nature Conservancy's Species Profile: Sandhill Crane
- National Audubon Society, Rowe Sanctuary, Nebraska
- Sandhill Crane Migration on Nebraska Platte River - Viewing Sites Info & Maps, Photos + Video
- Alamosa/Monte Vista/Baca National Wildlife Refuge Complex
- Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge
- Sandhill Crane videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Stamps (for Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
) with RangeMap
- Sandhill cranes breeding and biology in Alaska
- Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) from Paul Johnsgard, Cranes of the World (1983)
- Sandhill cranes in British Columbia, Canada from Thomas Hentrich, www.MomentsInRGB.com