Cranes and Herons

 Both these birds are so prehistoric looking and only seems like a bird to me because they fly. They are so unusual looking that it is always a thrill to see either.
There are only 2 types of  Cranes in North America, the Sandhill and the Whooping Crane (these are rare indeed). They belong to the family Gruidae. 10,000 million year old fossils related to the Cranes have been found so they could have been flying around with the dinosaurs. They have a 7ft. wingspan. All I know is that the Cranes at Kensington are friendly birds for the most part as long as you are not getting too close to their young. They make a very harsh honking ....check it out by clicking in the link below.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/sounds

The Heron (this is a great Blue) is from the family Ardrielae and there are several species such as the Green, Tricolored, Black-crowned Night heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Little Blue plus more. Egrets and Bitterns are in the same family and there are more sub-species of these. All these birds are waders and  again, seeing them fly is amazing.
A good bird ID site is Cornell's all about birds. The links is below
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrKD6q5Gx0wIVELbACh2tqQYjEAAYASAAEgIDgfD_BwE