Sand Hill Cranes

The residents of this park like the Sand Hill Cranes that live here. It's fun sharing our space with these large, goony birds who freely wander the streets and sometimes look at us as though we're their resident wildlife. It's big news when someone notices that the birds have started building their nests on the tiny islands in the middle of the ponds and their progress is followed intently. We've had some sever rainfall lately which has put the nests in some danger of flooding but the parent birds (mother and father) have been seen frantically building up the soil around the nests to protect the eggs. Interesting how dumb birds carry the instinct to protect their young when we keep hearing how too many human parents neglect their's. I think our birds are a little late this year because the eggs have yet to hatch. I'm used to seeing tiny little Sand Hill Cranes running next to the big ones as they cruise the park, then the little ones seemingly growing inches every day until they don't look much like babies anymore. I hope the eggs hatch before I leave next week so that I can see those babies. We look forward to this ritual every March...it marks the end of our Florida winter and we'll see those babies as full grown cranes when we return in the fall.