whooping cranes?

19 years ago

Saw a couple of birds take off from a nature preserve here on the north shore of Lake Ontario. I am pretty sure they were whooping cranes. They were huge - bigger than swans. Very long neck, small head, all white (though I do not recall seeing black wingtips, as in the Googled pics I see).

When they flew over the water, gaining altitude, they made a strange noise with every wingbeat. It sounded very much like a model locomotive "with realistic chug-chug sound" would make - tinny, like through a tiny speaker.

1] Is this noise why they're called whooping cranes?

2] Is it unique to this bird/species?

3] Is it because they are so large?

4] Is it coming from their wingbeats (feathers) - not, for example - from their throats?

(First one makes a crack about birds wearing black wingtips gets it right between the eyes...)

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Comments (3)

webkat
19 years ago
Whooping Cranes are named so because of their calls that they make.
If you didn't see black wing tips they were probably not Whooping Cranes....

Here is a link that might be useful: Listen to Whooping Crane calls
Tomato_Worm59
19 years ago
Sounds like mute swans to me. They do make an odd whistle as they fly. The sound is from their wings. As for size, mute swans do have about the same wingspan as whoopers-about 8'. No black on the wings is a dead giveaway as are those long necks. Neck length is also about the same on the 2 birds. Another dead giveaway you'd have seen on cranes, is the long, trailing legs. Cranes are also very gregarious, with whoopers usually hanging with the much larger numbers of sandhills.
Another large, white bird with an 8' wingspan and black on wings, is the white pelican. It can be distinguised from the whooper from a longer distance, by the fact, the black is not just on the primaries, but the secondaries as well, bordering much the length of the wings.
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ltcollins1949
19 years ago
I don't know if this will help, but you might want to check out Whooping Cranes.

whooping cranes?

Comments (3)

webkat

Tomato_Worm59

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