Sarus crane: Chronicle of the pink-legged beauty

Roaming around the beautiful and eye-catching domes of Lumbini, I approached the periphery of World Peace Stupa where a small pond was located.

I was welcomed there with the exciting activities of sarus cranes. 

A parent bird guarding its eggs. Photo: Manoj Paudel

It was amazing to see the tallest flying birds in the world collecting tiny dry branches from the bush and other essentials for making the nest to hatch their eggs. 

Afraid that the rare bird could fly away, I approached with caution. 

Covering the photo feature from laying of eggs to the chicks' first fly was not going to be easy. So I made a plan to coordinate with the caretakers of the sanctuary.

The travel time for me to reach the nest was almost half an hour; I used to go there once in a week or twice when needed. 

The chick venturing a bit on its own. Photo: Manoj Paudel

After three weeks, only one egg was laid. The first chick popped out after thirty seven days. When I heard the news, I ran to capture the photo but I failed to do so for two days. Three days later the baby chick started to walk; I took the photo but was not satisfied. 

Baby chick was growing slowly and I took the photo when they were searching for food. It was amazing to see the chick walking with their parents. 

With sharp beaks, these cranes catch insects, grasshoppers, worms and fish and feed them to the baby. They can even kill the snakes. 

An estimated five hundred cranes are there in Nepal, out of which more than four hundred are found in Rupandehi district only. The sarus crane is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.