Sandhill Crane Feeding
by John Telfer
Title
Sandhill Crane Feeding
Artist
John Telfer
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
While visiting the Queens Zoo, located on the old Worlds Fair Grounds in Flushing, Queens, New York where they held the Worlds Fair in 1964. The Queens Zoo is very unique while not as big as some of the other zoos in New York it prides itself on making all of the animals appear as if they are living in their natural habitats. While walking around the rear of the zoo I came across this great looking Sandhill Crane, he was totally oblivious to everyone around as he was walking around in the dark muddy waters searching for food, which is where you will usually find Sandhill Cranes searching for food. He had these tremendously long and extremely thin legs that were carrying a large fat body of thick gray feathers. The neck was very long leading up to a head that had great colors to it, white and red with a black beak. With all of the great natures colors surrounding him it was an ideal photo as there was great looking colored flowers and leaves. For more information on the Sandhill Crane please feel free to read below;
Adults are gray overall; during breeding, their plumage is usually much worn and stained, particular in the migratory populations, and looks nearly ochre. The average weight of the larger males is 4.57 kg (10.1 lb), while the average weight of females is 4.02 kg (8.9 lb), with a range of 2.7 to 6.7 kg (6.0 to 14.8 lb) across the subspecies.Sandhill cranes have red foreheads, white cheeks and long dark pointed bills. In flight, their long dark legs trail behind, and their long necks keep straight. Immature birds have reddish brown upperparts and gray underparts.The sexes look alike. Sizes vary among the different subspecies; the average height of these birds is around 80 to 122 cm (2 ft 7 in to 4 ft 0 in).Their wing chords are typically 41.8�60 cm (16.5�23.6 in), tails are 10�26.4 cm (3.9�10.4 in), the exposed culmens are 6.9�16 cm (2.7�6.3 in) long and the tarsi measure 15.5�26.6 cm (6.1�10.5 in).
These cranes frequently give a loud trumpeting call that suggests a French-style "r" rolled in the throat, and they can be heard from a long distance. Mated pairs of cranes engage in "unison calling." The cranes stand close together, calling in a synchronized and complex duet. The female makes two calls for every one from the male.
Sandhill cranes' large wingspans, typically 1.65 to 2.29 m (5 ft 5 in to 7 ft 6 in), make them very skilled soaring birds, similar in style to hawks and eagles. Utilizing thermals to obtain lift, they can stay aloft for many hours, requiring only occasional flapping of their wings and consequently expending little energy. Migratory flocks contain hundreds of birds, and can create clear outlines of the normally invisible rising columns of air (thermals) they ride.
Sandhill cranes fly south for the winter. In their wintering areas, they form flocks of over 10,000. One place this happens is at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, 100 mi (160 km) south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. There is an annual Sandhill Crane Festival in November.
Featured 6/12/14 Wildlife One A Day
Featured 7/29/14 Wisconsin Flowers and Scenery
Featured 2/24/15 Animal Photographs
Featured 3/12/17 Kingdom Animalia
Featured 9/7/17 FAA Portrait - Birds
Featured 8/21/20 FAA Portraits
Featured 9/25/20 Daily Promotion
Featured 9/28/20 Your Very Best Photography
Featured 11/15/20 Just Perfect
Featured 11/16/20 The Road To Self Promotion
Featured 1/26/21 The Outdoor Photographer
Uploaded
June 11th, 2014
Statistics
Viewed 9,581 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/26/2024 at 9:40 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet