Cranes

There are 15 species of crane, and I have photos of six.

red-crowned crane (Columbus Zoo)

sandhill crane (Columbus Zoo)

Ginger, left, and Fred, white-naped cranes at the Columbus Zoo

black crowned crane (Columbus Zoo)

demoiselle crane (Toledo Zoo)

I have two photos of the gray crowned crane, but the birds are quite far away.

ABP - Always Be Preening

Birds spend a lot of time taking care of their feathers. All photos are from the Columbus Zoo.

African grey parrot

blue-winged teal

black crowned crane

hadada ibis

Sometimes it helps to have a partner. I suppose this is how some birds maintain the feathers on their heads and necks.

Humboldt penguins

trumpeter swan

Click any picture for a larger image.

Birds on a wire? Nope. On a railing.

I was surprised that a black crowned crane stood on the railing of the Columbus Zoo's Congo aviary viewing deck. I was more surprised that several birds spent some time there last Thursday. (In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised, given the poop on the railing.)


Here's another black crowned crane, but a juvenile. Its wings have adult coloring, and the golden crown is looking good, but the neck and body still have some brown, and the red cheek is still developing.

black crowned crane (juvenile)

The hamerkop and its partner were busy building a nest, but this one took a break.

hamerkop

The hamerkop's toes are partially webbed.

A hamerkop's feet

The blue-bellied roller is one of my favorite birds.

blue-bellied roller (side view)

blue-bellied roller (front view)

A speckled pigeon visited.

speckled pigeon

A sacred ibis preened.

A sacred ibis preens.

A sacred ibis's tail feathers

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.