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  In flight

Cranes & Waders

Sandhill Crane

Antigone canadensis

• common
• 72 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

Migrates thousands of miles with ancient grace. One of the oldest bird species alive, with fossils 2.5 million years old.

Population

Approximately 670,000-830,000 individuals total (~450,000-550,000 mature), increasing, per BirdLife DataZone (2021 IUCN assessment) / Wetlands International 2020, consistent with Wikipedia's ~400,000-500,000 continent-wide figure. Note: International Crane Foundation's species field guide cites a considerably higher ~1,460,000 ± 230,000 — an unreconciled discrepancy between sources (see disputes).

Habitat

Freshwater wetlands, marshes, bogs, and wet meadows adjacent to open grasslands and prairies; during migration uses harvested grain fields and river sandbars for roosting

Fun fact

The sandhill crane has one of the longest fossil histories of any living bird, with an unequivocal fossil dated to about 2.5 million years old.

Range

Breeds from northeastern Siberia through Alaska and Canada into the northern U.S.; winters in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico; non-migratory resident populations occur in Florida, Mississippi, and Cuba (Birds of the World lists exactly these three non-migratory populations plus six migratory ones; Georgia's resident birds are generally treated as an extension of the Florida population rather than a separate one)

Diet

Omnivorous: roots, tubers, seeds and grains (especially waste corn), plus insects, earthworms, small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians

Size

1.2 m

Wingspan

2 m

Lifespan

36 years