Imprinting is a learning process that all precocial (e.g. cranes) young birds go through. They learn their parents behavior and physical characteristics that remain with them the rest of their lives. I was at Grass Lake near Cambridge on Sunday, June 3rd and saw two adult Sandhill Cranes with a lone colt, foraging far out in a farmer's field. As they were about to disappear in the tall grass I noticed one of the parents started flexing her wings possibility to warn any possible threats hiding in the grass. I took a sequence of shots. Initially the colt went into hiding and then emerged to mimic its parent once it gained the confidence back. Admittedly the whole sequence looked very adorable; however, this could be a good example of how imprinting works on a young bird as they start copying their parents behavior.
1. At the start of the sequence top of the head of the colt could be seen in this photo as the parent spread her wings.
2. Now the colt is really hiding as it didn't know what was happening around - no trace of it in this shot
3. In the next shot he tentatively appears mimicking the parent and started spreading its own wings
4. Now the colt is bold enough to show more of its body as it continued mimicking its parent.
