Tallest flying bird

The tallest of the flying birds are cranes, belonging to the family Gruidae. The tallest species of crane is the sarus crane (Antigone antigone), which stands up to 1.8 metres (5 feet 9 inches) tall, the same height as the average adult man. Native to the Indian subcontinent (most notably India), southeastern Asia and Australia, it is able to fly despite its great size but is non-migratory, and inhabits marshes and other wetlands, where it feeds upon small vertebrates, arthropods and plant material such as tubers and roots.

Consultant Karl Shuker: These birds are NOT waders as we have claimed in previous issues of GWR - waders belong to an entirely separate order of birds, Charadriiformes.