Sarus Crane FAQ 1
The Sarus Crane Grus antigone was first officially identified in Australia in 1966, inspiring interesting and differing ideas about their origins, history and ecology.
Here in Sarus Crane FAQs Part 1, Ozcranes looks at size, calls, location and numbers. An introduction to Brolgas and Sarus Cranes, including comparison photos, is on Ozcranes Australia/New Guinea Cranes Intro page.
Sarus Crane Size
- Height: to 150cm
- Wingspan: to 2.5m
- Weight: 5kg-8.7kg
- Bill: to 16.6cm
← Indian Sarus Cranes and goatherd, Etawah, India (K.S. Gopi Sundar). Note, the birds are standing on lower ground, in a wetland with Cyperus sedge up to their ‘knees’. The villager chasing his goats is on a raised bund adjoining a wheatfield. Sarus from Australia and SE Asia are about the same size, both smaller than the Indian Sarus which at up to 180cm is the tallest living flying bird.
Male Sarus Cranes are slightly larger than females and Australian Sarus are slightly larger» than Brolgas.
Calls
Like other Grus cranes, Sarus have a long, coiled trachea. Their distinctive bugling or trumpeting calls are very similar to Brolgas. Listen to Sarus Cranes calling».
TOPSarus Crane Locations
The Sarus Crane also occurs in India and South-east Asia – mainly Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia – and is extinct in Malaysia, Bangla Desh and the Philippines. Genetic studies indicate it's more than 30,000 years since Australian Sarus Cranes interbred with Sarus from SE Asia, and there is no known migration of Australian Sarus outside northern Australia. The Australian Sarus Crane was separated into subspecies gillae on the basis of plumage differences from other Sarus, but this is not supported by genetic studies.
←← Where Sarus Cranes were found during the second Birds Australia Atlas 1998-2002 – all in north Queensland, north of latitude 20 degrees S. Atlas maps and information are now online at the Birds Australia Atlas Database
← This Gulf wetland surrounded by a ridge with scattered trees is a typical Sarus Crane nest territory site in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Photographed by John Grant during aerial population surveys
During 1998-2002 breeding was only recorded in the Gulf of Carpentaria (the largest dot), which is more accessible than Cape York in the flooding tropical Wet. Earlier surveys reported nesting on Cape York Peninsula, and small non-breeding flocks or individuals in northern WA, the Northern Territory, and south to Townsville in Queensland.
The only known significant non-breeding congregation of Sarus Cranes in Australia is on the Atherton Tableland and its nearby hinterland, far north Queensland. It's assumed that these birds breed in the Gulf of Carpentaria and use the ‘Gulf Flyway’ to migrate east for the Dry season, but this has not been proven.
Numbers
Australia: unreliable estimates of 5,000 individuals to 5,000 breeding pairs (=10,000 adults plus young or immatures). A clearer total may be achievable when the annual north Queensland Crane Count can coincide with aerial surveys in the Gulf.
- Some Surveys
- N Qld Crane Count 1997-2004: mean (average) 1,700
- N Qld Crane Count Oct 2000: 3,300
- January 1984 Gulf of Carpentaria: 40 pairs breeding
- August 1970 Atherton: 230
- August 1968 Atherton: 31
Next: Sarus Crane FAQ 2| Food, drinking, nesting»
« Back to Brolga & Sarus Crane Introduction
Most FAQ facts are from HANZAB2; other references in Ozcranes Resources.
