I have seen a crane sitting in a tree watching over the pond in my front yard. I have never seen any fish in the pond and so i am curious as to why the crane is there. I thought cranes only hangout by ponds if there are fish. Does anyone have an research hypotheses to why the crane is there?thanks in advance
They are opportunistic feeders that change their diet according to the season and their own nutrient requirements. They eat a range of items from suitably sized small rodents, fish, amphibians, and insects, to grain, berries, and plants.The cranes as a family consume a wide range of food, ranging from animal to plant matter. When feeding on land they consume seeds, leaves, nuts and acorns, berries, fruit, insects, worms, snails, small reptiles, mammals and birds. In wetlands roots, rhizomes, tubers and other parts of emergent plants, other molluscs, small fish and amphibians are also consumed as well. The exact composition of the diet varies by location, season and availability. Within the wide range of items consumed there are some patterns; the shorter-billed species usually feed in drier uplands while the longer-billed species feed in wetlands
They also eat bugs and little critters. It could have been looking just outside of the pond, also it could have not known there weren't any fish and thought to give it a try anyhow.
maybe it's nesting? it's migration season so it might just be a stop-over. where are you? we saw sandhills go over a few weeks ago over oak park IL about a month ago.
