Jonathan Livingston .... Crane?

Remember that book about the seagull, and how you never see them die, I think that something like that must be going on with those giant construction cranes, the ones where the guy/gal sits up top operate them. They are all over my city, some 600 feet or more in the air. I would think it takes time to put one up or down, but I have never seen it. They are always just there or they are gone. What lifts them up? What takes them down? And while I am at it, they sure do look unstable.

They use other cranes to put them up. They started on one next door to where I office just this morning.

More detail:

which comes first, the crane or…?

Cranes–does it take one to build one?

Hmmm…, same guy asked both times.

Raising Cranes: How Are Construction Cranes Raised and Lowered? (By Todd Campbell)