The Red-Crowned Crane, Tancho as it is known in Japanese, stands at 150 to158 cm (4ft to 5 ft) tall weighing 8 to 11 kg (17 to 25) pounds with an amazingly large wingspan measuring 200 to 260 cm (6.5 ft to 8.5 ft) and live more than 60 years. The Tancho's mate for life, their ritual courtship dance is legendary; they bow to one another, then raise their heads towards the sky and call in unison, as they call they begin to dance. The pair or the entire flock will leap into the air, at the same time commencing the mating ritual dance. While photographing this event, I recommend using the camera's continuous shutter release mode, with spare memory cards on hand. It is best not to try to savor space on your card by shooting each frame as you anticipate it, you will be sure to miss out of the perfect shot. During my annual Hokkaido Photo Tour in February, the groups I lead spend two to three full days with the Red-Crowned Cranes proving ample time to photograph them.