Dancing cranes, Tsurui Village, Hokkaido, Japan
I was very fortunate to see the mating dance of the red crowned cranes (Grus japanensis) recently. A heavy snowfall had brought this endangered species in from the marshlands to their winter feeding grounds earlier than usual and triggered their elegant mating dances (called duetting) that help to establish formation and maintenance of their pair bonds. Duetting can often trigger other pairs to start duetting as well in a display of territoriality.
Size: 5000px × 3333px
Location: Tsurui Ito Tancho Crane Sanctuary, Akan District, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan
Photo credit: © Terry Allen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: birds, bonds, courtship, crane, cranes, dance, dancing, day, dried, duetting, eastern, elegant, endangered, feeding, footprints, fresh, grasses, grounds, grus, hokkaido, horizontal, ito, japan, japonensis, late, lifted, mating, pair, rare, red-crowned, sanctuary, snow, species, tancho, tourism, travel, trees, tsurui, village, wildlife, wings, winter
