Siberian White Crane

The plumage of the Siberian Crane is nearly entire white. The front of the face and forecrown is bare and red with thin bristles of white or yellow-brown colour on centre of crown, and the tips of the wings are black.

The bill is brown-red or brick-red with slightly paler tip. It is long, slender and laterally compressed. The legs and feet are pale red, pink, or dull red, with black claws. The iris is pale yellow, in some birds it may be t9nged pink, ivory or red.

The Siberian crane is the most aquatic of the cranes, exclusively using wetlands for nesting, feeding, and roosting. For nesting, wide expanses of shallow fresh water with good visibility are preferred.

As in other cranes, usually two eggs are laid, which are incubated for about 29 days by both parents. The chicks fledge (first flight) at approximately 70-75 days.

Siberian cranes feed on cranberries, rodents, fish and insects. On migration and on the wintering grounds, they excavate nutrient rich roots and tubers from wetlands. They are predominantly vegetarian outside their breeding season.