Grus grus

On a cloudy autumn morning, as the farmer arranges his farming implements, he hears a call in the sky that is unmistakable: grus, grus, grus… Without leaving the hut, he will smile and say to himself: “There go the cranes, the cold will soon arrive.”. 

The limping song emitted by cranes during their migratory journey is one of the most famous soundtracks of our nature. A sound so famous that it has even earned the species its scientific name: Grus grus.

Related to herons and storks, although much larger in size, these elegant waders can grow to over a metre and a half in height. With long legs and necks, they have a much shorter beak than storks and have plumage ranging from ash-grey, brownish-brown and black, with the beautiful iridescent reds of their hood and wide white mask standing out. All of this is topped off by a tail that is not a tail at all, but rather a clumsy plume of long, hanging plumes that give them a graceful and elegant appearance. 

Basically vegetarian, cranes generally feed on grains and seeds, roots and bulbs. But in their breeding territories, located in the wet areas of Scandinavia, Russia and other regions of Eurasia, they also catch amphibians, reptiles and all kinds of invertebrates. Until the cold comes and the ice and snow close the fields. 

At this time, these enormous and unmistakable birds begin their journey to their winter quarters, located on the Iberian Peninsula. The silhouette of the flocks of cranes, with their characteristic squadron formations, begin to be seen in mid-October, but the bulk of the wintering population arrives at our wetlands and pastures in November, coinciding with the acorn harvest and when the soil in our fields still offers them all kinds of food. 

They will remain here until the arrival of spring, always moving in groups from their feeding areas in the crop fields and oak groves to their roosts. Among their favourite places are the lagoons and fields of Castilla y León and Aragón, to the pastures of Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia and Extremadura. In this last community they find their favourite destination, with the highest concentrations: up to eighty thousand specimens or even more in some years.

The wintering population of cranes in Spain is around a quarter of a million. The return to their breeding areas begins in February, although it can last until the first days of spring. When the swifts arrive, there will not be a single crane left in our fields..  

These popular birds are among the most beloved by country people. In Extremadura they are so loved that in the villages there are parties to welcome and farewell them. But where they arouse true devotion is in the countries where they have their breeding areas.

In Scandinavia, where birdwatching is one of the main interests of the inhabitants, there are nature parks and reserves equipped with observation points and routes specially designed to enjoy the birds, which are visited by many enthusiasts without causing any disturbance. The famous Finnish composer Jan Sibelius, who as a good Scandinavian was a great birdwatcher, was devoted to cranes.

So much so that he dedicated one of his most delicate compositions to them: his famous opus 44 “Scene with Cranes”. Sibelius died in the autumn of 1957 in his country house: Ainola, a cozy wooden house located on the shores of a lake where cranes bred. And his relatives recounted that two days before his death, when he knew he was seriously ill, he wrote this beautiful farewell note: “I think the cranes have come to say goodbye to me this morning. They were flying low. I had never seen them fly so close to me. One of them has separated from the group and has traced a curve around the hill to approach the house and circle around it before leaving, while emitting its sad cry: as if it wanted to say goodbye to me”. Text: Jose Luis Gallego. https://www.ecogallego

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