I am always fascinated by the collective nouns used to describe a group of birds—a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese, a paddling of ducks, a squadron of pelicans. Some make sense. Others are a puzzlement. I wondered about Sandhill Cranes and found lots of different terms that are apparently used to describe them. The collective terms for cranes include herd, construction, dance, sedge, siege, and swoop. Some of these are likely derived from crane behaviors like dance and swoop. My guess is that sedge refers to the sedge-filled marshy habitat cranes frequent. I wonder if construction is a nod to construction cranes? I’m not sure how siege might describe cranes. A herd implies to me a lumbering mass of wildlife and is not what I see in cranes. Why not just call them a flock?
