More cranes

The mild and settled weather with light winds is clearly ideal for bird migration. Another 50+ cranes flew over Nyhavn this afternoon in a characteristic "V" formation, again heading towards Sweden. Cranes are lovely birds with a trumpet-like call and an elegant posture. In late spring they can be watched performing their 'dancing' displays. This usually involves opening their wings and leaping vertically into the air with their legs dangling. Once one bird starts this, others will join in and the whole performance has even be initiated by a human pretending to be a dancing crane! Once the birds are paired off they are more likely to perform different displays involving stretching their necks vertically and trumpeting.

The Scandinavian Cranes that breed in Sweden winter mainly in Spain and Portugal, stopping off in large numbers in Germany and France. There has been a small colony of Cranes in the UK since the late 1970s. This group, beginning with around 3-4 individuals, has steadily grown through breeding and the addition of the odd vagrant to a recent maximum count of 35+. They are pretty regular in east Norfolk around Horsey and Waxham, especially at dusk when they fly in to roost and indulge in their bill-clapping.