Today's official bird prompt is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but my colleague's Uganda suggestion was the Gray Crowned-Crane, and I had to pick the Uganda one today because it is Ugandan Independence Day. My husband and I used our day off to take a bike ride and go birding. I was hoping to see a Gray Crowned-Crane or five, but we didn't. Never mind! It's on the Ugandan flag, plus my son sent me the bird from the Bird-A-Day calendar. (See below for both of those GCCs.)
Yesterday in our school Independence Day celebrations, we were asked what the bird on the flag symbolized, and someone near me was saying loudly, "Uganda moves forward!" The answer given from the stage was "longevity." Apparently both are true. The bird's raised leg shows forward movement. And Gray Crested-Cranes can live 20 years in the wild and up to 30 in captivity - which is a long time! I often see them on the compost pile on our Lakeside campus. I think it must feel warm and cozy to them. And they are gorgeous in flight.You can see them in the video below, which was made five years ago as a promo for a film called "Flight to Extinction." The word is that the population of these birds has rebounded somewhat since then.
Independent
Proud Uganda
Cranes are flying
Moving forward
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
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