© 2007 Dino Paravano ...Science Art-Birds

Title: Grey-crowned Crane Pair (Balearica regulorum)
Artist: Dino Paravano (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: 20 x 30"
Media: oil
Date: 2007
South Africa

This stately golden-crowned, grey-bodied bird, with it's white cheek patches and inflatable red gular sack has a booming call, an energetic dance, and amazingly enough, can perch, aided by an exceptionally long rear toe (hallux). It lives in eastern and southern Africa in mixed wetland-grassland habitats.

The artist notes, "I found these beautiful large birds many years ago in South Africa and enjoyed composing and painting them in 2007 from sketches and photographs taken at the time."

An omnivore, this crane has adapted fairly well to human-modified habitat and remains common over much of its historic range. Nonetheless, conditions have been changing and it is in increasing decline due to habitat drainage, livestock overgrazing, pesticide use, collisions with powerlines, predation by dogs, fence building, killing as pests (by farmers), and hunting and trapping (for the bird trade). In South Africa, the South African Crane Working Group (SACWG) is establishing a network of conservationists and public education programs.