Crowned cranes at Ngorongoro and Serengeti

I heard a strange raspy noise early one morning on Tanzania’s Serengeti Plains. I looked around and saw that the sound came from two crowned cranes that were walking and eating in the short grass wondered what they were doing. The taller crane, probably the male, repeatedly made the raspy noise. It sounded similar to the short, loud cat-like purrs that the adults use to call their young, but I saw no chicks anywhere. So i decided to follow them awhile. I stayed out of sight inside my vehicle to avoid disturbing the cranes, and watched them through binoculars. After a while the male began courting. He bobbed his head and bowed. Then, holding wings outstretched, he jumped vertically more than his own height with his legs held straight down. The female joined the male and they together bobbed their heads up and down, holding their bodies still. Both birds turned in circles. Alternately they courted and ate, switching every few minutes. I saw an even more elaborate crowned crane courtship inside Ngorongoro Crater, which lies 50-100 km east of the Serengeti Plains. One of the pair, apparently the male, picked up a bunch of grass in his beak. A clod of soil dangled from the roots. As the crane sprang into the air, he tossed the grass high over his head. A few minutes later during his dance he bounded near the discarded tuft of grass and again picked it up in his beak. Without pausing he tossed the grass into the air at the top of his next bounce. Soon after, he tossed it yet a third time. The use of objects in courtship displays is not uncommon among other bird species, ‘but it was the only example of which 1 know of such behavior in crowned cranes.