Common Cranes Courting

S

SKM

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Common cranes are a regular feature at Slimbridge but yesterday was the first time I had seen so many, nine in all, together and reasonable close to the hide. These two were performing their courting ritual / dance

stan

1/1250, f8, ISO 400, 300f4 and 1.4x

33105703735_6e72da02fa_c.jpg
 
Plenty of dancing Cranes around now Stan, would be great if a pair nest as close to the Rushy Hide as last year :)
 
cheers guys

gramps said:
Plenty of dancing Cranes around now Stan, would be great if a pair nest as close to the Rushy Hide as last year
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that would be great

Cheffievrs said:
shame about the ridiculous amount of unnecessary rings that are used..!
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they are all part of the Great Crane Project which aims to re introduce they wonderful birds following being almost lost from the UK 400 years ago, so the rings are a very necessary part of the process. Not too keen on them myself but if it makes the difference between seeing no birds at all or birds with rings, then there is no contest

Details of the project here
 
stanm said:
they are all part of the Great Crane Project which aims to re introduce they wonderful birds following being almost lost from the UK 400 years ago, so the rings are a very necessary part of the process. Not too keen on them myself but if it makes the difference between seeing no birds at all or birds with rings, then there is no contest

Details of the project here
Click to expand...

Indeed ... Black/Blue/Black on one leg indicates a UK bred bird and the other three indicate year of birth (bottom ring) and identification.
In your photo, the bird on the right is Sedge, a female, born in 2010 and on the left is Monty, a male, also born in 2010 ... this pair hatched one chick last year but it unfortunately died before fledging.
Monty was previously paired with a female called Chris, who sadly died in 2015.
 
Nice isolation of the birds, great capture. I understand teh rings but they are not very photogenic!
TFS
 
Cheffievrs said:
With today's technology, I refuse to believe they need 6 rings each..!!
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The project is to reintroduce Cranes to the UK and identify them without disturbance, not to provide models for photographers.
 
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