Common cranes (also known as Eurasian cranes) often gravitate to wet open fields, bogs and marshes. This flock is congregating in the Drömling wetland in Germany. The most widely distributed of all the 15 species of cranes, its native range covers a wide area of Europe and Asia, with the largest breeding populations in Russia and Scandinavia. As winter approaches, common cranes make the long journey south, often in large flocks of about 400 birds, to northern Africa and parts of southern Europe and Asia in search of more hospitable temperatures.
What do you call a group of cranes? Birdwatchers mostly use a 'sedge' or a 'siege' but we prefer some less-common terms: a 'swoop' or a 'dance' of cranes.
