Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

In North Amer­ica, this species breeds as far north as Alaska and the Arc­tic coast of Canada south into the Great Lakes re­gion and west­ward across Idaho, Nevada and Ore­gon. It also breeds in the ex­treme south­east­ern United States and Cuba. The win­ter range of this species in­cludes parts of Cal­i­for­nia, New Mex­ico, Ari­zona, Texas, Geor­gia, Florida and north­ern Mex­ico. Pop­u­la­tions of sand­hill cranes are also found in north­east­ern Siberia, Andyr­land, and on the Chyukot­ski penin­sula and Wrangel Is­land. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• palearctic
  • introduced
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Most sand­hill crane pop­u­la­tions nest in open grass­lands, such as wet mead­ows, and fresh­wa­ter marshes or bogs. There are six sub­species of sand­hill cranes, and each typ­i­cally nests in the open, wet grass­land habi­tats of their re­gion. The Cuban pop­u­la­tion of sand­hill cranes (Grus canaden­sis ne­siotes) is an ex­cep­tion, in­hab­it­ing dry, iso­lated re­gions, some­times in rocky and moun­tain­ous ter­rain.

Sand­hill cranes pre­fer to be far from human habi­ta­tion. How­ever, dur­ing mi­gra­tion, they are com­monly seen feed­ing on crops and crop residue in agri­cul­tural fields. At night they con­gre­gate to roost in large marshes. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp
• bog

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Sand­hill cranes are large birds with heavy bod­ies and long necks and legs. They stand about 1.2 m tall, with wing spans of about 2 m. They are uni­formly gray­ish, with a white cheek and a bald red crown. Sand­hill cranes can be dis­tin­guished from other large wad­ing birds in flight by their out­stretched neck, and their wing­beats, which are a slow down­ward beat fol­lowed by a quick up­ward flick.

Male and fe­male sand­hill cranes are sim­i­lar in ap­pear­ance, though males are usu­ally larger than fe­males. For ex­am­ple, males of the G. c. canaden­sis sub­species av­er­age 3.75 kg whereas fe­males av­er­age 3.34 kg. Ju­ve­nile sand­hill cranes tend to be much more brown­ish than adults.

There are six sub­species of sand­hill cranes. These sub­species are dis­tin­guished based upon mor­phol­ogy (size) and ge­o­graphic sep­a­ra­tion. (Pe­ter­son, 1980; Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry
• polymorphic

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  3200 to 5200 g

  112.78 to 183.26 oz

• Average wingspan

  2 m

  6.56 ft

Re­pro­duc­tion

Sand­hill cranes are peren­ni­ally monog­a­mous. Breed­ing pairs re­main to­gether from year to year, main­tain­ing the pair bond by per­form­ing courtship dis­plays, re­main­ing in close prox­im­ity and call­ing to­gether in uni­son. Breed­ing pairs form dur­ing spring mi­gra­tion. This species is noted for its elab­o­rate courtship dis­plays. Five courtship dis­plays have been iden­ti­fied as part of "danc­ing," the pri­mary mech­a­nism of pair for­ma­tion in this species. These dis­plays are the Up­right wing stretch, Hor­i­zon­tal head pump, Bow, Ver­ti­cal leap and Ver­ti­cal toss. Three courtship dis­plays are used ex­clu­sively by paired adults to main­tain the pair bond and syn­chro­nize re­pro­duc­tive de­vel­op­ment. These are the Bill up, Cop­u­la­tion and Uni­son call dis­plays. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Sand­hill cranes raise one brood per year. In non-mi­gra­tory pop­u­la­tions, egg-lay­ing can begin as early as De­cem­ber or as late as Au­gust. In mi­gra­tory pop­u­la­tions, egg-lay­ing usu­ally be­gins be­tween early April and late May. Both mem­bers of a breed­ing pair build the nest using plant ma­te­r­ial from the sur­round­ing areas. Nest sites are usu­ally in marshes, bogs, or swales, though cranes will oc­ca­sion­ally nest on dry land.

The fe­male lays 1 to 3 (usu­ally 2) eggs that are oval-shaped and dull brown with red­dish brown mark­ings. Both par­ents par­tic­i­pate in in­cu­ba­tion, which lasts 29 to 32 (usu­ally 30) days. In­cu­ba­tion be­gins with the lay­ing of the first egg and con­tin­ues until the sec­ond egg has hatched. The chicks are pre­co­cial; they hatch cov­ered in down, with their eyes open and are able to leave the nest within 24 hours of hatch­ing. The par­ents brood the chicks for up to 3 weeks after hatch­ing. They feed the young in­ten­sively for the first few weeks, and with de­creas­ing fre­quency until they reach in­de­pen­dence at 9 or 10 months old.

The chicks re­main with their par­ents until 1 or 2 months be­fore the par­ents begin lay­ing the next clutch of eggs. After leav­ing their par­ents, the chicks form no­madic flocks with other subadults and non-breed­ers. They re­main with these flocks until they form breed­ing pairs and begin breed­ing be­tween the ages of 2 and 7 years old. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Sandhill cranes raise one brood per year.

• Breeding season

  In non-migratory populations, egg-laying can happen any time between December and August. In migratory populations, sandhill cranes usually lay their eggs in April and May.

• Range eggs per season

  1 to 3

• Average eggs per season

  2

  AnAge

• Range time to hatching

  29 to 32 days

• Average time to hatching

  30 days

• Range time to independence

  9 to 10 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 to 7 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2 to 7 years

Sand­hill cranes pro­vide ex­tended bi­parental care to their young. Both mem­bers of a breed­ing pair build the nest, in­cu­bate the eggs and feed and pro­tect the chicks for up to 10 months after hatch­ing. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Sand­hill cranes that reach in­de­pen­dence are ex­pected to live about seven years. The old­est known sand­hill crane lived at least 21.6 years.

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  21.6 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  375 months

  Bird Banding Laboratory

Be­hav­ior

Sand­hill cranes are di­ur­nal and par­tially mi­gra­tory. North­ern pop­u­la­tions move south dur­ing the win­ter months whereas south­ern pop­u­la­tions re­main near the breed­ing sites year round.

Cranes are usu­ally found in pairs and fam­ily groups. Dur­ing the mi­gra­tion and win­ter, fam­ily groups may join with non-mated cranes to form sur­vival groups that feed and roost to­gether. These sur­vival groups often con­gre­gate at mi­gra­tory stag­ing areas and on the win­ter­ing grounds. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• sedentary
• territorial
• social

• Range territory size

  0.10 to 0.85 km^2

Home Range

Two stud­ies res­i­dent sand­hill crane pop­u­la­tions in Florida es­ti­mated av­er­age home ranges of 657 and 1366 hectares.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Sand­hill cranes com­mu­ni­cate pri­mar­ily using phys­i­cal dis­plays (see Mat­ing Sys­tems sec­tion) and vo­cal­iza­tions. Adult sand­hill cranes have a reper­toire of more than a dozen calls, which can be de­scribed as vari­a­tions on "trills", "purrs" and "rat­tles". Calls are used in ter­ri­to­r­ial ad­ver­tise­ment, so­cial in­ter­ac­tions and to no­tify oth­ers of a nearby preda­tor. Breed­ing pairs may call in duet in order to ad­ver­tise their oc­cu­pancy of a ter­ri­tory. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Sand­hill cranes are om­niv­o­rous birds that use their bills to probe for sub­sur­face food and glean seeds and other foods. These birds feed on land or in shal­low marshes with veg­e­ta­tion. Foods vary de­pend­ing on what is avail­able. Cul­ti­vated grains such as corn, wheat and sorghum are a major food source in their diet when avail­able. In north­ern lat­i­tudes, a wider va­ri­ety of foods are con­sumed, in­clud­ing berries, small mam­mals, in­sects, snails, rep­tiles, and am­phib­ians. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects
• mollusks

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

When ap­proached by an avian preda­tor, sand­hill cranes fly at the preda­tor, kick­ing it with their feet. When ap­proached by a mam­malian preda­tor, sand­hill cranes move to­ward the preda­tor with their wings spread and their bill pointed at the preda­tor. If the preda­tor per­sists, sand­hill cranes will at­tack, hiss­ing, stab­bing with their bills and kick­ing with their feet. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Known Predators

  • foxes
  • raccoons
  • coyotes
  • wolves
  • bobcat
  • crows
  • ravens
  • hawks and eagles
  • owls

Ecosys­tem Roles

Young and sick sand­hill cranes pro­vide food for their preda­tors. Sand­hill cranes af­fect the pop­u­la­tions of species that they prey upon. They also host at least 24 dif­fer­ent species of par­a­sites. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Sand­hill cranes feed on in­sects and ro­dents that may dam­age crops. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Sand­hill cranes feed on crops where they are avail­able.

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Sand­hill cranes are pro­tected under the U.S. Mi­gra­tory Bird Act and CITES Ap­pen­dix II. Two sub­species of sand­hill cranes, Grus canaden­sis ne­siotes (Cuba sand­hill crane) and Grus canaden­sis pulla (Mis­sis­sippi sand­hill crane), are fed­er­ally en­dan­gered in the United States. Low re­pro­duc­tion rates limit pop­u­la­tion re­cov­ery in this species, es­pe­cially by the mid-con­ti­nent pop­u­la­tion, which is sub­ject to hunt­ing. Rein­tro­duc­tion of cap­tive-reared birds has been in­stru­men­tal in main­tain­ing pop­u­la­tion size. Pro­tec­tion of wet­land habi­tats is also es­sen­tial for the sur­vival of this species. (Tacha, et al., 1992)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  Protected

• US Federal List

  Endangered No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Kari Kirschbaum (au­thor, ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Marie S. Har­ris (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Pe­ter­son, R. 1980. East­ern Birds; A com­pletely new field guide to all the birds of east­ern and cen­tral North Amer­ica. New York: Houghton Mif­flin Com­pany.

Tacha, T., S. Nes­bitt, P. Vohs. 1992. Sand­hill Crane (Grus canaden­sis). Pp. 1-24 in A Poole, P Stet­ten­heim, F Gill, eds. The Birds of North Amer­ica, Vol. 31. Philadel­phia, PA: The Acad­emy of Nat­ural Sci­ences; Wash­ing­ton, DC: The Amer­i­can Or­nithol­o­gists' Union.