Identification - A long legged, gray, heron-sized bird with bald red crown and a "bustle" at the rear of the body. Its plumage is often rust stained. Sexes are similar. It can be distinguished from the Great Blue Heron by its overall gray coloration, its extended neck in flight, and the manner in which it moves its wings with slow down strokes but quick upstrokes.
Morsels - The rusty plumage results from birds feeding in areas where the mud contains a ferrous (iron) solution; their plumage is stained as the birds preen and the oxidized iron, or rust, gets transferred to their feathers. Cranes have a very graceful courtship dance. They repeatedly bound up and down six to eight feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) in the air with wings half open, uttering their calls.
