Balearica regulorum

This unmistakeable bird is the least vulnerable of our cranes, and can be easily separated from blue and wattled by its long, golden-coloured crown feathers.

In March 2010 Eileen and I took a trip to Ficklands Pan near the town of Wakkerstroom. Just before the turn off to the pan we recorded our first crane species for southern Africa; a beautiful, grey-crowned crane.