Cranes are birds about which songs, verses and children's fairy tales are composed. These are those long-legged beauties with a narrow long beak, gathering in flocks and emitting grunting sounds in flight, which everyone watches in the sky every spring and autumn. What the crane eats, being in Russia or during wintering in the southern countries, is described in this article.
Cranes and their types
The Crane family of birds is one of the oldest on Earth. They appeared in the era of dinosaurs (about 50-60 million years ago) on the American continent, from where they first settled in Asia, then Africa and other continents.
The Crane family includes 15 species, of which 7 live and nest in Russia, many of which are listed in the Red Book. Some species are migratory and migrate with the onset of the cold season, others lead a sedentary lifestyle. What they look like, where they live and what cranes eat in nature - these questions will interest all lovers of such diverse and beautiful birds.
Gray cranes
These are beautiful large birds (up to 125 cm in height) that live throughout the warm season in Russia, Europe and North Asia. The habitats of such cranes are very diverse and do not depend on the landscape, but they nest only on marshy areas. In Russia, these are wetlands in river floodplains, in the forest-steppe and steppe zones - lake basins and meadows, covered with water and reed beds.
In Western Europe, cranes usually settle in small swamps near sown fields and close to people. These birds are omnivorous, and therefore, what the gray cranes eat, depends on the season. In the summer and spring, they eat small animals, shellfish, berries, sprouts of marsh plants, various insects and their larvae. In autumn, cranes flying over the fields feed on crops (wheat, barley, peas and corn), pick up the remaining small potatoes. The most favorite autumn dish is fresh seedlings of winter wheat.
White Crane (Siberian Crane)
Sterkh is a very rare species of the Crane family, listed in the Red Book of Russia. He lives and nests in the tundra in Yakutia and the Tyumen region, and flies to North Asia (China, India) for the winter. This is a long snow-white bird with a red beak, its growth is up to 140 cm, the wingspan reaches 2.3 m.
What the white crane eats depends on its place of residence: in the tundra on the lakes and swamps it eats small animals (lemmings, field voles), fish and insects, aquatic plants and berries.
Sometimes white cranes rob: they steal and eat fresh eggs and even chicks of other birds. During the winter season in Asian countries, they feed on tubers and rhizomes of aquatic plants.
Dancing Crane
The most beautiful bird of the genus Cranes is the Japanese crane, which for many years has been listed as an endangered species in the International Red Book. The disasters for this bird are associated with its habitat - swamps and swampy meadows on the Japanese islands, which are constantly drained by people in order to build roads and settlements. These birds are rare in Russia and in China.
Frogs, fish, small invertebrate animals, various insects - this is what the crane eats in the swamp. This bird is very rare and fearful, and therefore it is very difficult to see it.
The appearance of the Siberian Crane is very beautiful: its snow-white feathers turn black at the ends of the wings and tail, the beak is dark, and at the crown is a red cap. For its exquisite beauty, the Japanese consider this bird an important symbol in their culture, embodying prosperity and long years of life.
The most remarkable and beautiful in this bird is its magical dances at dawn, when the cranes make smooth dance moves. Having spread its huge wings, the bird then freezes, then jumps, listening to its sounding inside.
Demoiselle Crane
Belladonna is the smallest crane in the world, with up to 200 thousand individuals in various states (countries of Central and East Asia, Mongolia, Russia).
The belladonna is not tall (up to 90 cm), the body is light gray in color, and the head and neck are black. Behind the eyes are bundles of snow-white feathers, the beak is yellow, small. The cornea of the eyes is an unusual bright orange color.
Unlike other species, belladonna live in open places with low grass: steppes, semi-deserts, savannahs. They actively settle and breed directly on arable lands near the water (streams, rivers, small ponds, grassroots areas).
In addition to feeding from the grain fields (ears eat whole), lizards and insects, eggs of other nesting birds - this is what the bell-eared crane in the steppe eats, as well as various seeds and parts of plants.
Demoiselle cranes nest in the steppe right on the ground in a hole surrounded by branches and droppings. Toddlers live with their parents for up to 10 months.
American shepherd's crane
There are several species of cranes nesting and living on the American continent. The most original of them is arama. This is a bird of the shepherd's crane family of small size (about 66 cm) with a brown-olive color plumage, and on the wings, chest and lower neck are thin white stripes. Arams nest in the rainforests and swamps of Central, South and North America.
Unlike European species, aram is a crane that feeds on mollusks, mainly snails. In search of food, they slowly walk in shallow water, raising their long legs high, peering into the water and, thanks to their wonderful sense of smell, find it at the bottom. Grabbing a snail, they deftly pull it out of the shell, eat the mollusk itself, and throw it back into the pond.
It is noteworthy that the chicks of aram, on the contrary, eat small snails right along with the sink, swallowing whole. In addition, these cranes also consume plant foods: grains and seedlings of cereals, berries, cranberries, roots, and tubers of various plants in North America. Of the other feeds - insects (aquatic and terrestrial), small amphibians and mammals, worms - the diet of American arams is quite extensive compared to, for example, what the belladonna eats in Europe.
Indian crane (antigone)
This is the largest crane in the world - its growth is up to 180 cm. The color is ash gray or with blue, the tips of the wings are black, the beak is green, the head, throat and part of the neck have red skin with spiky bristles. Such cranes live in India, Nepal, Pakistan.
Antigone nests are built in a forest or in an open area, overgrown with tall grass or bushes, near wetlands. Typically, the nest consists of the stems of plants located in the swamp directly in the water in shallow water or near the reservoir.
Tubers and bulbs of plants growing in or near water, few fish and frogs - this is a list of what the crane antigone eats. Most often they walk in shallow water, swarm and dig various parts of plants from the bottom.
Unlike other species, the antigone is a sedentary crane that does not migrate with the changing seasons from nowhere. Its number is stable, so it does not cause any problems and questions on the part of biologists.
Australian crane (brolga)
This crane is very similar in appearance to its Indian counterpart, it differs only in darker coloring and a small bald spot on its head. Because of this similarity, even experienced ornithologists have confused the two species for quite some time.
Not so long ago, Brolga settled on a large territory of Australia and the islands of New Guinea, but for reasons of growing farms and active land reclamation, the crane was forced out of its usual habitats. Now there is only a small population of these birds in the coastal areas of Australia.
Crane cranes nest on swampy lowlands, usually flooded with water and overgrown with tall grass and reeds. Basic food: rhizomes and tubers of plants growing in and around water that birds dig from the bottom of a reservoir. They also eat small fish, bugs, mollusks and amphibians, they like to fly rice and corn for feeding on farm fields. All of the above is what Australia crane eats.
