What do you see?
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Do you see the back of one adult Whooping crane and the back of one Whooping crane chick?
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These Whooping cranes are hocksitting, or sitting on their hocks.
Hock-sitting is normal in some birds, especially in birds with long legs — and in juveniles of these species. Young cranes often rest on their hocks. (More under the photo)
Image:
Heather Ray, Operation Migration
About
this picture: This
photo was taken after so much rain fell at the chicks' pen site
that they couldn't rest, or hock-sit, because the dry section of
their
pen was under water!
The "costumes" had to actually take the birds out of their enclosure and lead
them a short distance away from the pen so that they could get some sleep. Adult
#509
showed up, too. (He thinks he's the cranes' babysitter.) Much to everyone's
surprise, adult #509
sat
on
his
hocks
right
beside
one
of the youngsters!