Asteroid 8761, Crane, was discovered on March 25, 1971 in the Palomar-Leiden Survey by C. J. van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels. It has a period of 3 years, 131 days.
It was named for the bird commonly known as the common crane (Grus grus), found in Europe, where it has been listed as endangered.
The common crane
The meaning of asteroid Crane, according to Henk Middleraad, is: lifting; other possibilities are: to crane (rubberneck), cranes (the machine or the bird).