Biological Characteristics: Its crown of golden feathers gave this bird its name. Its wings are white and yellow, its tail is reddish-brown and the rest of its plumage is grey apart from a white face mask. Grey crowned cranes walk in slow steps and when taking off for flight they run with open wings. Non-migratory bird.
Habitat And Geographical Distribution: African savannahs south of the Equator (Kenya, Uganda, Congo and Tanzania).
Diet: Omnivorous. Plants, seeds, insects and small vertebrates (reptiles, amphibians, fish, etc.).
Reproduction: Oviparous and monogamous, forming couples for life. Build platform-shaped nests with herbs and other plants in humid and high vegetation. Incubation of the eggs (2-5) is carried out by both the female and the male for about 1 month. The chicks are precocial, being able to run as soon as they hatch and to fly at 10 weeks.
Behavior: Live in flocks with 30 to 150 individuals. Although they are non-migratory birds, they move according to the availability of food, water, nesting sites and environmental conditions, such as precipitation. These distances can be extensive in drier regions.
Their elaborate mating rituals, in which both sexes dance, inspired the dances of tribes of Uganda.
Conservation Status: Endangered species (IUCN)//Appendix II (CITES)
