Cranes, Herons & Egrets: The Elegance of Our Tallest Birds

by Stan Tekiela

Overview

Develop a New Appreciation for These Unique Birds

When you imagine these graceful, elegant birds, perhaps you picture them in shallow water, standing on one leg, waiting for fish. But there's much more to these cultural touchstones. Award-winning photographer Stan Tekiela takes you into the fascinating world of cranes, herons and egrets. His striking photography captures the birds in action and depicts behaviors that will leave you awestruck. Headings and small blocks of text make for easy yet informative browsing.

Discover North America's tallest birds through Stan's personal observations and years of research. Everything about them is interesting, from how they walk to how they fly to how tall they are. These historic birds are ingrained in folklore around the world. Stan has photographed every important aspect of their lives, from first flight and hunting to migration and mating. The result is a one-of-a-kind book that celebrates these wonderful creatures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591935841
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Series:	Wildlife Appreciation
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	422,614
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Naturalist, wildlife photographer, and writer Stan Tekiela is the author of more than 175 field guides, nature books, children’s books, wildlife audio CDs, puzzles, and playing cards, presenting many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, trees, wildflowers, and cacti in the United States. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural History from the Universityof Minnesota and as an active professional naturalist for more than 25 years, Stan studies and photographs wildlife throughout the United States and Canada. He has received various national and regional awards for his books and photographs. Also a well-known columnist and radio personality, his syndicated column appears in more than 25 newspapers, and his wildlife programs are broadcast on a number of Midwest radio stations. Stan can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

Read an Excerpt

LONG, POINTED BILLS

The bill, also called the beak, is one of many unique features of birds. Bills are made of keratin—a lightweight, but very strong, material. While some bills have fine serrations or a large hook, others are sharply pointed. Cranes, herons and egrets have exceptionally long bills with sharp points.

Sizes and colors may vary, but all bills are similar in structure and function. Cranes, herons and egrets use their straight, dagger-like bills to cut through water and stab fish. The cranes also pierce mice, snakes, frogs, toads, worms and other prey items.

Birds use their bills for more than just preening and feeding. Cranes, herons and egrets carry sticks in their bills to build nests, manipulating branches of various sizes and also managing finer plant materials during the construction process. In addition, the bill is used for defense or, in some cases, to act out aggressively.

WEAK SENSE OF SMELL

All of these birds have enlarged olfactory centers in their brains, but despite this, they have a weak sense of smell, and they don’t use their nostrils to find food. Cranes eat a smorgasbord of items, from fish, seeds and grains to insects, amphibians and small mammals. Herons and egrets dine mainly on fish. To locate these kinds of underwater provisions, the birds use their eyes. The sense of smell plays no part.

EYES FOR HUNTING

Excellent sight and eye placement are vital for these birds to find food. Eye placement on the sides of the head allows for better peripheral vision but makes for poor binocular sight. However, with eyes slightly forward on the head, the vision from each eye overlaps, providing decent sight in front and fairly good depth perception. Thus, the birds can capture tiny fish or pick up corn kernels or other morsels directly ahead of the bill.

Herons and egrets can hunt for food day and night, due, in part, to increased rods in the back of their eyes—which greatly improves vision during low-light conditions. This helps when hunting late in the day or just before daybreak. It may also help them see through murky water to the small fish lurking below.

Table of Contents

The Splendor of Cranes

Graceful Herons and Egrets

Remarkable through the Ages

History of Bird Feather Fashions

Family Distinctions

Mysteries of the Common Names

Roots of the Scientific Names

Sandhill Crane Subspecies

Changing Populations

Whooper Comeback

Keys to Saving the Species

Differentiating the Sexes

Size Tall, If You Please

Long-Lived Birds

Fanciful Feathers

Rare White Morphs

Youthful Plumages

Feather Grooming

Powder Down

Wet and Dry Washing

Sunning Time

Wing Tip to Wing Tip

Takeoff and Staying Aloft

Riding the Thermals

Hollow Bones for Flight

Muscle Power

Long, Pointed Bills

Weak Sense of Smell

Eyes for Hunting

Slender, Scaly Legs

Extremely Strong Toes

Designed to Fish

Menu Specials

What’s That Sound?

The Deafening Calls of Thousands

Building the Nest

The Neighborhood

Pair Bonds at Nesting Sites

Plume Shows

Spectacular Courtship Dancing

Mating Beginnings

Eggs in the Nest

A Month of Incubation

The Chicks Are Hatching!

Warmth in the Brood

Out and About in a Day

Rowdy Begging Matches

Sibling Aggression in the Nest

Surviving the Perils

Growing into Fledglings

The First Flight

Hunting Skills

Gathering into Flocks

The Urge to Migrate

Winter’s Rest

The Race Home

Back at the Platte

Our Elegant, Tall Birds

Featured Cranes, Herons and Egrets

About the Author