BALEARICA

The bird genus '''Balearica''' consists of two species in the crane family Gruidae: the Black-crowned Crane (''B. pavonina'') and the Grey-crowned Crane (''B. regulorum'').
The species occur in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and are the only cranes that can nest in trees. This habitat is one reason why the relatively small ''Balearica'' cranes are believed to closely resemble the ancestral members of the Gruidae.
Like all cranes, they eat insects, reptiles, and small mammals.