The non-breeding season pattern of feeding by day and roosting by night is universal. Roosting provides security for the flock and offers juvenile and single birds opportunities for pair formation. Crowned Cranes roost in trees. The other species usually roost in shallow water, but occasionally use dry ground, mudflats, or sandbars. Within roosting flocks, each crane stands about a peck distance away from its neighbors.
Cranes rest on one leg during the night, with the head and neck tucked on or under a shoulder.
They defecate at regular intervals, and may switch from one leg to the other several times during the course of a night. One unfamiliar sound or alarm call from a flock member is all that is required for the birds to become alert and prepared to fly. At dawn the cranes awaken, stretch, preen, and drink, then begin the day s activity. They fly off in small groups to an open upland area near the evening s roost the post-roosting staging area. There they land and continue to preen.