Common crane (English spelling: Grus grus; common crane)

Japanese: クロヅル（英語表記）Grus grus; common crane

Order Gruidae, family Gruidae. Total length 100-130cm. The top of the head is red, and the forehead, eyes to cheeks, upper front neck, and back of the head are black. The area behind the eyes to the back of the neck is white. The secondary feathers, tail feathers, tips of the upper tail feathers, and primary feathers are black. The rest of the body is light gray-brown to gray, with the subspecies living in the western part of the breeding grounds being darker than the eastern part. The tertiary feathers are long, and when the wings are closed, they cover the tail feathers and hang down behind. It resembles the Hooded Crane, but the Hooded Crane has a white neck. It breeds in Eurasia from central and northern Europe to Siberia. It is a summer bird (→ migratory bird) from central Europe north to Central Asia, northern Mongolia, the Kolyma River in northeastern Russia, and the upper reaches of the Amur River in the south, and is a resident bird in the southern and eastern Black Sea areas. It builds its nest by piling up grass in the shallow waters of marshes and grasslands. Its wintering grounds are the Mediterranean region, the Nile, the Indus, and the river basins in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, where it roosts on tidal flats and river banks. It feeds on marshes and farmland, and is omnivorous, eating everything from plants to insects and small mammals. It has been recorded as a vagrant bird throughout Japan.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ツル目ツル科。全長 100～130cm。頭頂は赤く，額，眼先から頬，前頸上部，後頭は黒い。眼の後ろから後頸にかけては白い。次列風切羽や尾羽，上尾筒の各先と初列風切羽は黒い。そのほかの全身は淡い灰褐色から灰色で，繁殖地の東部より西部にすむ亜種の方が色彩が暗い。三列風切羽は長く，翼を閉じると尾羽を覆って後方にたれる。ナベヅルに似ているが，ナベヅルは頸全体が白い。ヨーロッパ中北部からシベリアまでのユーラシア大陸で繁殖する。ヨーロッパ中部以北から中央アジア，モンゴル北部，ロシア北東部のコルイマ川，南部のアムール川上流あたりまでは夏鳥（→渡り鳥）で，黒海の南部や東部では留鳥である。巣は湿原や草原の浅瀬に草を積み上げてつくる。越冬地は地中海地方やナイル川，インダス川，ヒマラヤ南山麓の河川の流域などで，干潟や川の中州にねぐらをとる。湿原や農耕地で採食し，雑食で，植物質から昆虫，小哺乳類まで食べる。日本では迷鳥として全国に記録がある。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

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