This crane lives in southern African grasslands. Its bluish-grey body and long trailing display feathers stand out.
Adult males and females look alike. The body is silvery bluish grey, with long tertial feathers trailing behind from the wings.
In eastern South Africa it uses grasslands and the shrubby Nama Karoo. In the Western Cape, it moves seasonally between pastures and cereal fields; wetlands and shallow dams are also used for roosting.
In southern Africa, the nest may be a pad of plants on wet ground or a shallow scrape lined with pebbles and vegetation on dry ground. It lays 1–2 eggs, usually 2, incubated by both parents for about 29–30 days.
In southern Africa, it forages by pecking or digging with the bill. Foods include grass seeds and leaves, insects, worms, and small animals such as frogs and fish.
The short bill is flesh-colored, the eyes dark brown, and the legs dark gray to black. Chicks are light brown; juveniles are paler blue-gray than adults and lack the long trailing wing feathers.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.