Grey Crowned Crane

Balearica regulorum

Other Names

  Southern Crowned-Crane, Crowned-Crane, Blue-necked Crane, Royal Crane, East African Crowned Crane   Grue royale, Grue grise à couronne   Südafrikanischer Kronenkranich   Grulla Coronada Cuelligris   Sydlig krontrana   Grijze Kroonkraan   Gru Coronata grigia

World: Africa below 16°N, absent from dry SW and the central and western forested areas. Kenyan distribution represents the eastern boundary of its range.

Kenya: Highland marshes up to 3000m. Mostly absent from the North and East of the country.

The Grey Crowned Crane is a stately and colourful bird of the Kenyan wetlands. It is renowned for its elaborate displays where pairs engage in bowing, head bobbing and energetic dancing. The sight of a flock of Crowned Cranes flying in to land, over water against the backdrop of a Kenyan sunset is truly memorable!

There is some disagreement about the status of this species. Some authorities treat both the Black and the Grey Crowned-Cranes as subspecies of Balearica pavonina We have used Zimmerman, Turner and Pearson's nomenclature of Balearica regulorum, and treated it as a separate species.