Common craneKranich Grus grus
Family: Cranes
A tall grey bird with a red crown patch, black-and-white head pattern and a bushy tail of drooping feathers; in flight the neck is held straight, unlike a heron. Cranes are famous for their trumpeting calls and dancing displays and gather in tens of thousands at autumn roosts. After a long decline they have recolonised much of northern and eastern Germany as breeding birds.