Have been seeing a few around lately. I know they nest on the ground , but do they sleep on ground or in trees ?
The other day one was about 12 feet from the front of our house .
They roost by standing in shallow marshy areas. Cranes don’t ever go in trees. Herons roost in trees.
If anyone in southern WI wanted to see large numbers of cranes, Peterkin Pond south of Lake Geneva, roosts 1000’s of cranes this time of year. Best time to see them would be just before sunrise as the leave to feed or right around sunset when they come back to roost. They’ll probably be heading south in the next week or two tho.