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Cranes, rails and allies | Gruiformes
Kraanvogelachtigen | Grullas y rálidos
Cranes and rails look very unlike one another; they are placed together mainly on molecular data and on features of the skeleton. What they share is a life on the ground in marsh, reedbed and wet grassland: long legs with long unwebbed toes that spread the weight over soft mud and floating vegetation, a small, high-set hind toe, broad rounded wings and a short tail, so that the legs project beyond the tail in flight. Many species moult all their flight feathers at once and are then flightless for some weeks. The nest is on the ground or on a platform in the vegetation, and the young hatch downy and open-eyed, leave the nest within a few days, and are still fed by both parents at first.
Families in this order
- Cranes | Gruidae4 speciesLarge birds with a long neck and long legs which, unlike herons, fly with the neck stretched out; the lengthened inner secondaries droop over the tail as a bustle. In most species the windpipe is elongated and coiled into the breastbone, which accounts for the far-carrying trumpeting note that a pair often delivers in duet. The bill is straight and of moderate length: they feed while walking over arable land, steppe and wet meadow, digging up tubers and roots and taking seed, insects and small vertebrates as well. The hind toe is small and set high, so they do not perch in trees; two eggs are laid, usually one chick is raised, and it stays with its parents through its first winter.
- Rails and crakes | Rallidae10 speciesThe body is flattened from side to side, so the bird can squeeze between dense reed and sedge; the toes are strikingly long, and lobed in the swimming species. The wings are short and rounded: over short distances they fly with a whirring beat and dangling legs, though many species migrate long distances by night. The short tail is flicked up as they walk, showing the often pale undertail, and the bill ranges from short and conical to long and slender according to the food taken. The nest is a cup of stems and leaves hidden above shallow water; clutches are large, and the black downy chicks follow their parents within a day and are fed bill to bill.