The Grey Crowned Crane in Uganda is one of the African Uganda Bird Species seen during birding safaris in Uganda. The Grey-crowned crane is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. It is found in most parts of Uganda, especially in Murchison Falls national park.

This grey crowned Crane which is also known as the African Crowned Crane, Golden Crested Crane, Golden Crowned Crane and the East African Crane, is a bird that is in the Crane family and Gruidae. It is found in the Eastern and Southern Africa and it is the National bird of Uganda.

The Grey Crowned crane is closely related to the Black Crowned Crane and the two species have sometimes been treated as the same species.

There are two subspecies namely;

The East African B.r. Gibbericeps (Crested Crane) that occurs in the East of DRC and in Uganda of which it is the National bird represented in its National flag and Kenya to Eastern South Africa. It has a larger area white of bare red facial skin above the white Patch than the smaller nominate species, B.r. regulorum (South African Crowned Crane), which breeds in from Angola South to South Africa.

Physical description of the Grey Crowned Crane

The Crested Crane is 1m (3.3ft) tall, weighs about 3.5 kilograms and has a wing span of 2m (6.5ft). Its body plumage (the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour and arrangement of those feathers) is mainly grey. The wings are predominantly white but contain feathers with a range of colours together with a distinctive black patch at the top.

The head has a crown of stiff golden feathers and the face has white sides. There is a bright red inflatable throat pouch. The bill is relatively short grey, and it has black legs.

They have long legs for wading through the grasses and the feet are large, slender which are adopted for balance rather than defence and grasping. Crested Cranes always move in pairs and males are slightly larger than the females. It is the most faithful bird in the world and when the partner dies, the living one will remain single all its entire life time.

The Grey Crowned Crane occurs in the dry Savannah in sub-Saharan Africa, but it nests in wetter habitats. They can also be found in marshes, cultivated lands and grassy flatlands near rivers and lakes in Uganda and Kenya as far as South Africa.

Behaviour of the Grey Crowned Crane

The Crested Crane has a breeding display involving dancing, bowing and jumping. It also has a booming call which involves inflation of the red gular sac “throat sac” (gular skin is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak to the bird’s neck.)

It makes a honking sound quite different from the trumpeting of other crane species. Both sexes dance and immature birds join the adults. Dancing is an integral part of courtship, but also may be done at any time of the year.

The Cranes are Omnivores. They feed on plants, seeds, grain, insects, frogs, worms, snakes, small fish and the eggs of aquatic animals. Stamping their feet as they walk, they flush out insects which are quickly caught and eaten.

Breeding and Reproduction process of the Crested Crane

Grey Crowned Cranes time their breeding season around the rains, although effects vary geographically. In East Africa, the species breed year round, but most frequently during the drier periods, where as in Southern Africa the breeding season is timed to coincide with the rains.

In this breeding season, pairs of cranes construct a large nest; which is a platform of grass and other plants in tall wetland vegetation. It lays a clutch of 2-5 glossy, dirty-white eggs which are incubated by both male and female for 28-31 days.

The bird’s global population is estimated to be between 58,000 and 77,000 individuals.