Scientific name: Grus virgo (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Cranes and Bustards
Field characters. 90-100 cm. Distinguished from Common Crane by smaller size and large, dense tuft of white feathers behind eye. Plumage mainly blue-grey with slate-black face, throat, most of neck, and elongated breast feathers. Flight- feathers black, tail dark grey; bill olive-grey, legs black. Juvenile duller, with head and neck pattern little developed; eye tufts short and grey. Flight as Crane, with head and legs extended.
Voice. Higher pitched than Crane.
Distribution. Scarce summer visitor in far eastern part of region.
Habitat. Frequents a variety of habitats, such as shrubby steppe, coarse grassland, expanses of rock or gravel, alkali flats, woodland.
Food. Varied: plant material and invertebrates such as insects.