Mennis

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

• Blue
• Green
• Red

What is this?

Each crane has a unique combination of 3 coloured rings on their right leg. This marking code helps to identify the crane in the wild.

Character profile:

Summer 2010:  Mennis is Monty's brother and was a very nervous bird at crane school.  He is one of the most 'wild' acting of the birds and a bit of a loner but has settled in really well in Somerset. September 2010: Mennis has found a natural place in Minnie's gang and along with Vince form the trio of Red-Green; Mennis and White-Green, who are rarely seen apart.  This group is often also joined by Chris, Squidgy and White-Black and sometimes Howard too.  Mennis is fitted with a GPS logger back-pack and is one of the birds we can monitor remotely.October 2010: As Minnie's cohort has lost it's strong bonds, so Mennis has been spending a bit more time alone, possibly trying to work out which group he wants to stick with. This has worried us as he is starting to act strangley and is more tame than usual. He seems to hang out with Clarence's group the most now and reverts back to 'wild' crane with them so we hope he will stay with them.October 2010: After about a week, Minnies group has reformed and are foraging together again. However, Mennis is splitting off from them and also spending time with Clarences group, although he seems to have stopped acting quite so tame, so we hope this continues!November 2010: The group of three, lead by Minnie, has now decided to join Clarence and his larger group. All 20 birds are now usually seen together, probably due to the colder wintery weather, which has made them flock like they would normally in the wild. They have also discovered maize stubbles, which is Mennis's new favourite food!Jan 2011 - Mennis has been one of the flock during the coldest December on record and has been keeping his head down and getting on with it.  In early January, he became a bit isolated from the rest, and was probably suffering from some kind of bug.  We kept a very close eye on him from a distance, and fortunately he re-joined the group after a couple of days, and is now firmly back in with the flock of 18 again.March 2011:  Mennis has showed no signs of his previous illness and is moving around happily with the flock foraging around the moors. As with the others he is rather scruffy just now, but his adult plumage can be clearly seen comming through. September 2011:  Mennis now has nearly all of his adult plumage, and has done away with most of his scruffy appearance.  He has lost most of his shyness too, and is one of the more confident birds, readily approaching costumed 'parents' and new younger birds.

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Photos of Mennis

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