Editing Common crane (section)

==Distribution==
The common crane breeds in Europe and across the [[Palearctic]] to Siberia.<ref name=iucn/> By far the largest breeding populations can be found in Russia, Finland and Sweden. It is a rare breeder in southern and western Europe, with larger numbers breeding in the central and eastern parts of the continent. It has reappeared in several western European countries where it had been extirpated as a breeding bird decades or even centuries ago, including the United Kingdom and, since 2021, the Republic of Ireland.<ref name="Ireland BBC 2022"/> In Russia, it breeds as far east at the [[Chukchi Peninsula]]. In Asia, the breeding range of the common crane extends as far south as northern China, Turkey and the [[Caucasus region]].<ref name=iucn/><ref name="IUCN SSC">{{cite web | last1=Prange | first1=H. | last2=Ilyaschenko | first2=E.I. | year=2019 | title=Eurasian Crane | url=https://savingcranes.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/crane_conservation_strategy_eurasian_crane.pdf | work=IUCN SSC Crane Specialist Group – Crane Conservation Strategy | pages=397–424 }}</ref>

The species is a [[bird migration|migrant]] and common cranes that breed in Europe predominantly winter in Portugal, Spain and northern Africa.<ref name="IUCN SSC"/> Autumn migration is from August to October in the breeding areas, but from late October to early December at the wintering sites. Spring migration starts in February at wintering sites up to early March,<ref name=Alonso1990a/><ref name=Alonso1990b/> but from March through May at the breeding areas. Migration phenology of common cranes is changing due to [[climate change]].<ref name=Orellana2020/>  Important staging areas occur anywhere from Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany to China (with a large one around the [[Caspian Sea]]) and many thousand cranes can be seen in one day in the Autumn. Some birds winter elsewhere in southern Europe, including Portugal and France.<ref name="IUCN SSC"/> During mild winters, some may stay near their breeding locations year-round, even in northwestern Europe.<ref>{{cite web| title=Flere traner overvintrer i Danmark | url=https://netnatur.dk/flere-traner-overvintrer-i-danmark/ | date=11 January 2020 | publisher=netnatur.dk | access-date=16 January 2023 }}</ref> Common cranes that breed in far eastern Europe, including European Russia, winter in the river valleys of Sudan, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Eritrea with smaller numbers in Turkey, northern Israel, Iraq and parts of Iran. The third major wintering region, primarily used by those breeding in central Russia, is in the northern half of the [[Indian subcontinent]], including Pakistan. Minimal wintering also occurs in Burma, Vietnam and Thailand. Lastly, the easternmost breeders winter in eastern China, where they are often the most common crane.<ref name=Johnsgard1983>{{cite book | last=Johnsgard | first=P. | author-link=Paul Johnsgard | year=1983 | title=Cranes of the World | chapter=Eurasian Crane (Grus grus) | url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscicranes/ | publisher=University of Nebraska Lincoln | pages=226–237 }}</ref> Migrating flocks fly in a [[V_formation|"V" formation]].

It is a rare visitor to Japan and Korea, mostly blown over from the Chinese wintering population, and is a rare vagrant to western North America, where birds are occasionally seen with flocks of migrating [[sandhill crane]]s.