Sandhill Crane

About the Sandhill Crane

A tall gray crane with a bare red crown and a bustle of drooping tertials, famous for a rolling, bugling call that carries for miles - often heard from flocks so high overhead they are hard to spot. Hundreds of thousands winter in Texas, feeding in grain fields by day and roosting in shallow water at night. Sandhill Cranes dance year-round, leaping with wings spread and tossing vegetation, a courtship behavior that also strengthens pair bonds. Fossils nearly identical to modern Sandhill Cranes date back over two million years, making this one of the oldest surviving bird species.