Pictures with Birds: Me + Mallard Chicks (Anas platyrhynchos)

Lake Mendota, University of Wisconsin-Madison, September 2, 2011.

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): the International Crane Foundation

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation. The crane is dancing.

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation. The crane is dancing.

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation. Here the crane has its feathers puffed out, I think in an aggressive response to me approaching it. This could also be a part of the crane's dance.

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation. Here the crane is in the same positon, but with its feathers down.

Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum): at the International Crane Foundation

This crane was amusing to watch. Not shy, it liked to dance when humans approached, an aggressive behavior. Like the cormorant and the pelican, this crane has a gular sac that it inflates to make its call. This crane is very similar to the black-crowned crane, and has a really pretty combination of cream and brown feathers.

I was able to capture video of this bird dancing. Even though you might want to expand the video to make it larger, it is best viewed at the size that it is posted here.

You can read more about the grey-crowned crane here and here.

Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus): the International Crane Foundation

 Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus): at the International Crane Foundation

 Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus): at the International Crane Foundation

 Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus): at the International Crane Foundation

 Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus): at the International Crane Foundation

The blue crane looks pretty cute because it has a thin neck, as compared to the width of its head. There was a lady standing next to me when I was observing this crane, and she mentioned something about it being cute because it was fish-like. I'm not sure what she was getting at with that comment, but I agree that it is cute. The blue crane can be found in southern Africa. Sadly, there were many other cranes with more conspicuous behavior so I don't really have much more to add about the experience of seeing this crane. Given that, you can read more about this crane here and here.

Black-Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina): International Crane Foundation

I recently had the opportunity to visit the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, and this is the first of a series of posts featuring cranes. The ICF has all of the species of cranes from around the world, so the black-crowned cranes were in good company.

The black crowned crane is found on the continent of Africa, and this is one of two species of crane that can perch in trees (the other one being the similar grey-crowned crane). Apparently it is also popular to keep these cranes domesticated at houses in Africa. This could explain why I saw this crane (I think it was this species and not the grey-crowned crane...think) respond to a man that walked up to where the bird was being kept. He called it by name and it came running out of a shelter towards him and was very responsive to the presence of this man. The best I could figure is that the man was local and had been coming to the bird's cage interacting with it for quite some time.

Unfortunately, most of my pictures of the cranes at the ICF were taken from behind a chain-linked fence with my iPhone, so the pictures aren't the greatest. You can read more about this crane here and here, and more about the International Crane Foundation here.

Black-Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina): at the International Crane Foundation

Black-Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina): at the International Crane Foundation.
The picture has a filter on it from Instagram.

Black-Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina): at the International Crane Foundation