Common Crane Call MP3s
The Common Crane's far-carrying bugled call, recorded for birders and photographers tracking migration stopovers and roost sites.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
The Common Crane (Grus grus) is a tall, stately member of the crane family of around 120 cm — standing well over a metre tall, ash-grey with a black-and-white neck and a red crown patch. It breeds on remote northern bogs and clearings, staging on stubble and grassland in migration.
Its wild, bugling trumpet calls, amplified by a coiled windpipe, carry for several kilometres. It gleans seeds, water plants, snails and insects from the water's edge. Famous for its leaping courtship dances, it migrates in long, trumpeting V-formations. Its migrating flocks are among the most stirring sights of the European autumn, trumpeting high over Greece and the Balkans.
Legal use
The Common Crane is not legal hunting quarry in Europe: it has been protected in France since 1967, is listed on Appendix I of the EU Birds Directive, and is strictly protected at breeding, staging, and wintering sites across its range, including major strongholds in Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Russia. This call is intended for birdwatching, photography, and identification at migration and roosting sites, not for hunting. See our full country-by-country disclaimer for jurisdiction-specific detail.