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Family: Gruidae Chick Type : Subprecocial (Parental attendance and some parental nourishment) Sandhill Cranes are found in Canada, United States, Siberia Mexico, and Cuba. There are six subspecies of Sandhill Cranes; two of them are considered endangered. Cuban, Florida, and Mississippi Sandhill cranes do not migrate. Cranes are omnivorous; they are often seen foraging for grain in harvested or newly planted crop fields. Sandhills will also eat plant matter (tubers & berries), invertebrates and small vertebrates, such as small snakes & mammals (Archibald & Lewis 1996). It was once thought that cranes breed for life, but as we learn more about this group of birds, we are finding that this is not always the case. Sandhill Cranes make mound nests out of vegetation. These mounds are often constructed in shallow water. During breeding season, some Sandhill Cranes will cover their feathers with mud to help camouflage in the brown and dead spring time marsh vegetation. When this is done in iron rich soils, their feathers become stained and turn a reddish-brown color, which is iron oxide and not the color of the feathers themselves. The clutch consists of two eggs, hatchlings are known as 'colts.' They hatch with natal down and are able to walk & swim soon after. Adult cranes have very few aerial enemies; Golden Eagles are their primary aerial predators. Terrestrial enemies include raccoons, bobcats, wolves, and other large carnivores. Manmade objects such as wind turbines, powerlines and fences can also cause adult crane mortality. Chicks are often taken by racoons, minks, coyotes and raptors. Cranes look like herons to the untrained eye, one easy way to tell them apart from a distance is the way they fly. Cranes fly with their necks stretched out, while herons and egrets usually fly with their necks bent in a "S" curve. Aldo Leopold biographer and conservation biologist, Curt Meine, says "the crane was a living reminder of America's evolutionary past, a quality which had never before struck Leopold so directly about any creature" (Meine 1988). Leopold wrote about Sandhills in his essay titled "Marshland Elegy." At the UW Arboretum, a crossing sign shows that cranes are cared about as much as human children are. Please read the free and downloadable copy of "Cranes: Their Biology, Husbandry, and Conservation" to learn more about this wonderful family of birds. Chapter 13: "Ecology, Status, and Conservation" by Curt Meine and George W. Archibald is a must read for any crane enthusiast. Another great books is The Cry of the Sandhill Crane by Steve Grooms. For better understanding of Sandhill Crane behavior, please read Karen S. Voss's Behavior of the Greater Sandhill Crane (Part 1, Part 2). Subspecies:
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