Man And Wife

The Sarus crane is the world's tallest flying bird: an average of four to five feet, a large male may even stand six feet tall. They are beautiful, regal birds, inhabiting open country and often assembling in huge flocks. Mating Sarus cranes are known for their lifelong mutual devotion, causing many cultures to respect the bird as a symbol of good fortune and marital bliss.

An outstanding characteristic of the Sarus cranes, besides the fact that they stick to a single mate for life, is their spectacular dancing, especially as a prelude to mating. Breeding season sees the courting pair dance around each other, leaping in the air flapping their wings, tossing sticks with piercing shrieks. The mating pair builds a raised nest of sticks and usually two eggs are laid. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs. After 4-5 weeks, the eggs hatch and the parents feed the offspring on a mixture of insects, tender roots, grubs and grain. The chicks soon learn to follow their parents' example, pecking and feeding for themselves. The fluffy brown feathers are replaced by the striking adult plumage after about a year.

There are three recognised sub-species of the Sarus crane in the world. The Indian Sarus lives predominantly in UP. Eastern Sarus cranes were once abundant in Southeast Asia, but after decades of war they are now missing from most of their former range. The few that remain nest in Cambodia in small wetlands surrounded by dry forest, migrating to Vietnam's lower Mekong Delta to winter at the Tram Chim National Reserve. There is a smaller non-migratory population that lives in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta also. The third subspecies is the Australian Sarus crane.