Sarus Crane: along the road from Saltanpur to Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Obviously, one of the primary “target” birds for our trip to India was the endangered Sarus Crane. The Sarus is the tallest of the flying birds today, standing over 5 feet tall, and among the largest of the Crane family, with a wingspan of over 90 inches. It is also considered by many in India to be sacred…is often not only tolerated, but encoutraged and protected by local farmers when they build nests in rice paddies and adjacent wetlands, and is often seen as a symbol for marital fidelity (young couples are sometimes taken to see Sarus Cranes as part of the courtship). The story is that they mate for life, and the surviving partner when one dies, often morns to point of starving. They certainly live in and maintain family groups, each with its own territory. There are maybe 10,000 Sarus Cranes left in the wild, most of them in India, with the remainder in Southeast Asia and Australia. The Cranes have made somewhat of a comeback in India, following the Green Revolution, when irrigation canals were built and new lands put under rice cultivation, but they are still on the endangered list. Conventional wisdom is that today there are only 2.5 to 10% of number Sarus Cranes that inhabited India in the 1850s. So, we were excited to see this family….dad, mom, and this year’s colt…on a dike in the flooded fields from our road-birding stop…and I was blessed to catch this moment of display. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.