Sarus Crane Identification (1 Viewer)

[Hemang]

Hello all,
Today morning, I saw a big bird flying near to ground, about 10-15m, and it was whole white bird (don't remember wing colour) with red neck and sharp bill. Wing span was really large, bird bigger than vulture for reference.
I tried searching for it in book of indian birds by Salim Ali, and i only could find one bird like this- it was sarus crane, but I don't know if they are seen locally here, never saw any. I am in Rajkot, Gujarat. And do they visit here in winter? Also I read they are mostly flying in family or in pair but Bird I saw was flying solo.

Please help me identify this bird, thank you

 

[THE_FERN]

Hello all,
Today morning, I saw a big bird flying near to ground, about 10-15m, and it was whole white bird (don't remember wing colour) with red neck and sharp bill. Wing span was really large, bird bigger than vulture for reference.
I tried searching for it in book of indian birds by Salim Ali, and i only could find one bird like this- it was sarus crane, but I don't know if they are seen locally here, never saw any. I am in Rajkot, Gujarat. And do they visit here in winter? Also I read they are mostly flying in family or in pair but Bird I saw was flying solo.

Please help me identify this bird, thank you

Could well be sarus crane. There are 3 cranes in your area. They are common crane, demoiselle crane and Sarus crane. None are white. Sarus is pale grey but it's the only one with a red upper neck and head. In contrast, common crane only has a small patch of red on its head. Demoiselle has no red at all. This:

https://ebird.org/region/IN-GJ-RA/media?yr=all&m=

shows you the sorts of things you might see. It has a link to photos and information about each species.

 

[Hemang]

Yes, it might be grey, might have confused it with white, and thank you so much for link to the species seen in Rajkot
I think it will be definitely Sarus Crane as it's neck was totally Red and that's for sure!

 

[lou salomon]

is "Omid" definitely dead? (the last of Western Siberian Cranes who wintered in Iran since last year and then got missed). If there really was much red on its neck then forget about this. Siberian Cranes are white.

 

[Hemang]

If there really was much red on its neck then forget about this.

It's neck was fully red

 

[lou salomon]

It's neck was fully red

In that case it must have been a Sarus Crane.