Great Blue Herons are often mistaken for Sandhill Cranes—but they are fairly easy to separate. Great Blue Herons have a black-and-white head, a larger, more daggerlike, yellow bill, and a black-bordered stripe down the center of the neck. They are less bulky than Sandhill Cranes, without the drooping “bustle” at the tail. They fly (and often stand) with their head folded back against their shoulders, and they rarely fly in groups of more than 10 the way Sandhill Cranes do. The endangered Whooping Crane is even larger than a Sandhill Crane, and is white rather than dark gray.
Sandhill Cranes are similar in plumage across their range, but they vary in size. “Lesser” Sandhill Cranes breed in the Arctic and are the smallest; the largest form (“Greater” Sandhill Crane) breeds in the northern U.S. The nonmigratory “Florida” Sandhill Crane and a form that breeds in central Canada are intermediate in size.
Find This Bird
Sandhill Cranes are large birds that live in open habitats, so they’re fairly easy to spot if you go to the right places. In summer look for them in small bogs, marshes, and prairies across northern North America and the southeastern United States. In winter they form immense flocks in places like Bosque del Apache, New Mexico, and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. Their bugling calls are unique and can be heard from miles away—they can help alert you to this species’ presence, particularly as they pass overhead on migration.