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Measurements
Measurements of mass and length generally follow a similar trend. Arctic nesting birds (G. c. canadensis) are the smallest, northern U.S. nesting birds (G. c. tabida) the largest, with the central Canadian and nonmigratory populations intermediate (Appendix 2). One exception to this: the legs of G. c. pratensis are longer than eastern nesting G. c. tabida (Nesbitt et al. 1992). Wing chord measurements have often been reported but because each primary is replaced only every third or fourth year, once the Basic plumage is acquired (Nesbitt 1987), wing length is as much a function of feather age as subspecies or sex.
Tacha, T. C., S. A. Nesbitt and P. A. Vohs. 1992. Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/031
