Common Crane

How to recognise it

• Grey plumage with black cheeks, nape and neck, and whitish head sides behind the eyes
• Bare, red, warty patch on the crown and black flight feathers
• Elongated inner secondaries form a curly, tail-like plume, while the actual tail is fairly short
• Male slightly larger than female, juveniles have a feathered crown and yellowish-brown feather tips

Call and song

The call is a loud, nasal, rasping trumpeting that is piercing and carries a long way. In the pair's duet the female gives a high note and the male follows with a longer scream.

Where and when

The Common Crane is a migrant that breeds sparsely throughout Sweden except in the mountains, and less often along the south coast and around Gothenburg. It arrives in March to April and leaves in September to October. It is reported most in March and rarely from November to January, with reports from all 21 counties. It is not red-listed in the Swedish Red List 2025.

Food and behaviour

It is omnivorous, with plant food dominating, especially outside the breeding season. When breeding it also eats worms, snails, insects, frogs, snakes, lizards, fish and rodents. It migrates in flocks in V formation, flying with its neck outstretched. It dances by jumping with raised wings, and when breeding it is very wary and easily scared. The nest is a mound of moss and twigs placed directly on the ground.