Common Crane

The Common Crane is a tall, predominantly slate-grey crane with a blackish forehead and face, a bare red crown, and a white stripe running from behind the eye down the neck. Black flight feathers and elongated inner wing feathers create a dark, drooping rear profile when the bird is standing. Juveniles are browner and lack the vivid adult head pattern. Its loud trumpeting calls carry over long distances, and displaying birds leap and spread their wings in conspicuous dances. (Wikipedia, general species account)

Common Cranes breed in quiet bogs, wooded swamps and other wetlands, sometimes also using steppe or semi-desert where water is available. In winter they move into shallow flooded ground, meadows and cultivated country. They are omnivorous, eating roots, tubers, seeds and fruits as well as insects, worms, amphibians, rodents and other small animals. Migration connects breeding grounds across Europe and northern Asia with warmer winter areas, and travelling or feeding birds commonly occur in pairs, families or larger flocks. (Wikipedia, general species account)