Birdwatch: the avian equivalent of a catwalk model, blue cranes are under threat

Numbers of the exquisitely graceful species are falling amid loss of food supply and habitat

Few birds are quite as elegant as the blue crane. As I watched a pair feeding alongside a busy road in South Africa, against the rather incongruous backdrop of a herd of cows, I was struck by their sheer beauty. With a slender body, curved neck, long legs, elongated tail plumes and a subtle, dove-grey plumage, this bird really is the avian equivalent of a catwalk model.

But not all is well for the blue crane. It has the smallest global range of any of the world’s 15 crane species: apart from an isolated population in Namibia, almost all are found in South Africa, where it is celebrated as the national bird.