The Common Crane (Grus grus) is one of the largest birds in the region, standing 100–130 cm tall with a wingspan of up to 240 cm and weighing 4.5–6.5 kg. The body is pale grey with black-and-white contrasts on the head and neck; a patch of bare red skin marks the crown, most vivid during the breeding season, and the long neck is black and white toward the front with a white band sweeping back. The wings are broad and fingered with black tips, the legs long and greyish-black, and the tail ends in long, drooping "bustle" plumes that flutter in flight. In flight the crane holds its neck fully extended and legs trailing — unlike the Grey Heron, which draws its neck in — and travels in V-formations giving loud trumpeting calls audible for several kilometres. Juveniles are mottled greyish-brown and lack the red crown, reaching adult plumage at two years old.
The crane's call is an unmistakable trumpeting "kruh-kruh-kruh", produced by an unusually long windpipe coiled within the breastbone (up to 130 cm in an adult male), audible at 3–5 km; paired birds duet in synchrony, and a faster, higher triumph call follows mating or territorial disputes, while chicks give a soft whistled begging call. The species breeds across the whole region on remote mires, bogs, fens and small forest lakes, nesting directly on the ground — a large flattened mound of sedge and reed built where open water offers natural protection from predators such as fox — with the female laying 2 eggs incubated by both parents for 28–31 days; the precocial chicks leave the nest within a day and fledge after 65–70 days, staying with their parents through the first winter. Cranes are omnivorous, taking roots, shoots, grass and grain in spring and autumn alongside insects, worms, snails, frogs, lizards and small rodents. Famous for the courtship dance — deep bows with wings spread, jumps of 1–2 m straight up, tossing sticks and tufts of grass, and running with fluttering wings, both between pairs and in groups — the species is a strongly migratory long-distance flyer, leaving the region in September–October for wintering grounds mainly in Spain and North Africa and returning by mid-March. The species is classified as Least Concern (LC).
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