Not at all common here, this widespread Palearctic crane is one of the rarer species to be found in Japan. Only a few were at this site so we were lucky to see this one. The proposed smaller subspecies G. g. lilfordi ranging into East Asia is now generally regarded as undiagnosable. They do not differ genetically and the supposed color differences are thought to be due to differences in feather-painting behavior. Although now considered to be monotypic, a new race, G. g. archibaldi was described from the Transcaucasian region by Ilyashenko (2008). It is characterized by the absence of bare red skin on its hind-crown. Its validity has been provisionally accepted by Archibald et. al (2019). Canon PowerShot SX60.
References:
Archibald, G.W., Meine, C.D., Garcia, E.F.J. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Common Crane (Grus grus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/53560 on 26 April 2019).
Ilyashenko V.Y. 2008. The new form of crane from Trans-Caucasus. – Russian Ornithological Journal, 17, express issue 412: 559?562 .