It’s not the size of the bird in the fight… it’s the size of the fight in the bird.
You wouldn’t imagine a battle between a bear and a bird to be much of a contest, yet here we are. This sandhill crane absolutely held its own against a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park, and someone was nearby to capture the truly unbelievable footage.
It’s a fight that you wouldn’t ever expect, and it’s an encounter that ends in shocking fashion.
Sandhill cranes are some of the bigger birds in North America. They can grow up to 4-feet tall and reach weights of up to 15-pounds. They pair their size with their powerful long legs and a spearlike beak… and they make for quite the impressive bird. That being said, they are extremely outweighed by grizzly bears.
Fully grown grizzlies stand about 3 or 4 feet tall while all on all fours, and if they stand up on their hind legs, they can tower as high as 5 to 8 feet. They also usually weigh anywhere from 300 to 600 pounds… so when one matches up against a crane, they aren’t exactly in the same weight class.
However, this fearless sandhill crane didn’t care about all of the statistics. It saw the younger (and thus smaller) grizzly and decided that it was going to be the enforcer. In the video captured by Roam Wild Photo Tours, the bird truly sets the tone, and stands up tall as it flaps its wings to push back the bear.
The grizzly bear kept coming, but the sandhill crane just continued to stand its ground. As I stated earlier, the clash doesn’t go as you would imagine it to at all. Though it seems like the grizzly could make short work of the crane if it wanted to, it never got close enough to get the chance. The bird kept the bear on its heels, and if you are wondering why the sandhill crane went through all the trouble, it was protecting its nest.
As the wildlife photographer said in their caption, it was a very wild moment that played out in Yellowstone National Park:
“One of the wildest moments we’ve witnessed this season in Yellowstone. A fierce red sandhill crane refused to back down when a grizzly got a little too close. With wings spread, the crane stood its ground defending their nest in the background. Size isn’t everything in the wild. Sometimes determination is the strongest defense of all.”
How about that?
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a wildlife encounter like that one, and even after I’ve watched it… I still can’t believe it happened. That’s how a lot of other social media users felt about the footage, and they left comments below the video like these:
“That was amazing behavior to watch.”
“I’ve watched this several times and I’m in awe!”
“Quite an impressive scene to witness.”
“Crane still thinks its a dinosaur! They do the same with alligators. Crazy birds.”
“The ribeye of the sky has no fear.”
I’ll definitely be using “ribeye of the sky” to describe sandhill crane from now on.
