Black crowned crane

In the Congo Expedition area of the Columbus Zoo there is a building with an attached aviary, a view of a grey parrot exhibit, and a view of a colobus exhibit. I was looking at the parrots when a volunteer popped in from the aviary to say a crane was on the railing of the viewing deck. I hustled over there, and here's what I saw:

I don't know what I did to deserve this look:

The bird stood there for quite some time before turning around.

Cranes seem to be all legs, neck, and wings, and what wings they are! (Yep, another visitor was standing right there.)

The bird eventually hopped down to a bush:

At the lower-left is a juvenile, of which there are three. I'll post about them some time.

I thought "black" in "black crowned crane" referred to the velvet-looking patch on the top of the head, but "black" refers to the bird over all. As I learned from the International Crane Foundation, there is also a grey crowned crane. "Crown" refers to these cranes' fancy golden hairdos.


The Columbus Zoo does have grey crowned cranes, in the Heart of Africa, at the other end of the zoo. I have two photos of them, but the birds are far away and my zoom lens doesn't zoom enough to bring them close.