crowned crane | watercolour

These Crowned Cranes, with their golden headdresses and elegant grey plumage, capture the grace and ritual of one of Africa’s most striking birds. Crowned Cranes are famous for their elaborate courtship dances—bowing, leaping, tossing their heads, and unfurling their wings in a series of synchronized displays that strengthen the pair’s lifelong bond. Once bonded, they remain devoted partners, nesting together in wetlands where they build large platform nests hidden among reeds. Both parents share the work: they incubate the eggs in turns and fiercely protect their chicks, guiding them through grasslands and marsh edges where they forage for insects, seeds, shoots, and small reptiles.