Baby crane is growing up

"Mom, let's do our stretches."

"Not another photographer!"

"I'm getting tired of eating bugs."

"This is way more comfortable than standing."

The baby sandhill crane at Circle B Bar Reserve is growing up fast. I took these a couple of weeks ago so by now he's probably almost as big as his parents. He's still so much fun to watch and seemed very curious about everything.

Sandhill Crane Family at Circle B Bar Reserve

"Look mom, I can touch my tummy!"

"Am I a boy or a girl?"

"Wait for me!"

"Yuck, I'm not eating that bug!"

"Ignore the big bird behind me."

"Thanks for the snack, Mom."

"I hate getting wet."

Another serious "too cute" moment, but sad as well. Back in mid-February, I was able to get shots of the sandhill crane on a nest with eggs in the middle of the marsh. A couple of weeks ago I had read that the babies had hatched and were moving around the park with the parents. I saw several pictures of 2 babies posted on flickr but by the time I was able to get out to the park one of the babies was gone. No one knows what happened. Could have been an alligator or bobcat.  I found the family wandering around Heron Hideout trail (along with a long line of photographers). I took my place along the side of the trail and started snapping pictures. The parents stayed really close to the baby and kept feeding it. It was mesmerising to sit and watch the family walk around. They didn't seem to mind the large group watching them since everyone stayed pretty far away and didn't crowd them. After a while the family moved closer to the closed Rabbit Marsh trail and I headed back to my car.

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Thirty minutes with a sandhill crane baby

Mom, I'm bored.

Oooo, that's a scary looking bug.

Mom, come this way.

Mom, I don't see it!

Mom, don't push me out of the way.

I'm a big girl now.

I feel like I usually don't get this lucky. A couple of weekends ago, on my trip to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park with my sister, a sandhill crane baby had been born a few days before. A volunteer told me the parents are 3rd generation cranes that were born at the park from a permanently injured crane that lived there years ago. A wild mate found the resident crane and took up residence with it. The ones born since then can come and go but usually stay. This little baby was so cute and curious. It was running around looking at everything but not straying too far from the parents. Sandhill cranes are born in a nest low on the ground instead of in a tree. Unlike smaller birds who have to spend many weeks growing up in the nest first, the sandhill crane baby is usually mobile within a day or two of being born. The parents start grazing and are on the move within the first day. I must have walked around the big bird enclosure for at least 30 minutes. Finally, I had to run off and find my sister who had long moved on.

My first King Rail and other birds too.

My first king rail. This one has been in the same spot for a couple of weeks at the park, just look for the big group of photographers hanging around the corner of Heron Hideout and Marsh Rabbit Run.

Red bellied woodpecker looking at something interesting.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher looking up at the sky. Probably checking out a hawk.

One of the sandhill crane couples had laid an egg in a small nest in the middle of the marsh.  Hopefully, in the next week or two there will be a fuzzy brown baby running around.

Great egret flying along Lake Hancock.

This is why helium balloons should be outlawed. Some poor animal is going to choke on that. I would have grabbed it but I wasn't in the mood to step over the alligators.

One of the smaller ones at the park.

Another gorgeous weekend and another trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. These were taken a couple of weekends ago during one of the first nice warm weekends we had. People were disappointed that the white pelicans had left but there are still so many things to see there. I never did see the sora rail or virginia rail. Or the orange crowned warbler. The list goes on. You will always see lots of alligators there. I'm going back soon to check on the status of the sandhill crane egg.

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Sandhill Cranes on a busy road.

I was driving on a very busy road in north Pinellas recently and saw a pair of sandhill cranes walking along the road. I had heard several times that sandhill cranes get hit by cars frequently on East Lake road. I always thought "What's going on up there?"  Yes, cars drive fast along this road when traffic is not at a stand still. The sandhill cranes were walking really close to the road, almost looking like they would wander out in traffic. I drove past them and pulled into a parking lot. I got out and took a couple of pictures of them while I was standing just outside my car. I stayed pretty far away because I didn't want to spook them and have them start to fly out in traffic. These picture were taken at Keystone Road and East Lake Road. I know Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary has taken in several of these bird in the recent year trying to save them when they get hit. Signs should be put up to warn drivers - Beware of deer, bobcats, panthers, owls, cranes. In other words - Slow Down!

Birds at Homosassa Springs

A volunteer was feeding the pelicans.

The above pelican had that "Don't come near my nest." look on it's face.

There are 3 permanently injured eagles that live at the park.

Lot's of wild storks come in to get a free handout.

We found a lot of wood ducks swimming around the river near the manatees.

Sandhill crane taking a nap. A volunteer told me that years ago they had a sandhill crane that had been hurt brought to the park for rehabilitation. The crane ended up staying and attracking a wild mate. They had babies and there is now 3 generations of sandhills that live at the park. They could leave anytime they want but they still hang around all year.

How often do you see a red shouldered hawk (left) and red tailed hawk (right) sitting together on a branch? The red tailed was missing a wing.

Besides manatees, the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park has lots of birds. Both wild and rehabilitating permanent residents. You can get really close up to some of them. There's a lagoon in the middle that has flamingos, both white and brown pelicans, storks, swans and sandhill cranes that all hang out together. The brown pelicans were working on their nests while we were there so soon there will be babies to view up close. On a visit last spring I saw a handful of baby swans. There are a lot of volunteers at the park that can answer any questions and told me all kinds of good stories about the birds there. You can also find a lot of wild birds in the park. We saw pileated woodpeckers and warblers as well. I think I'm going to head back in early spring to see any babies that are at the park.

Sandhill cranes at Circle B Bar Reserve

On my New Year's eve trip to Circle B, I found a few sandhill cranes out in an almost dry marsh. There seem to be 2 couples that had crossed paths. Normally, when I see them they are just gracefully grazing and ignore me if they see me. These sandhill cranes were strutting around and honking.  Maybe there was a territorial dispute or maybe they just didn't like each other. It's funny how the feathers on the back of the crane fluff up when they are strutting around. That's their "something's going on" strut. I've heard that one of the couples has now built a nest near the trail so I may have to head back to Circle B in the next couple of weeks. Last year, a couple had one baby that grew up there. I didn't see it until it was much older but it was still brown and fluffy.

Sandhill cranes at Celery Fields

Does my toe look funny to you?

If you're not going to stop staring at yourself in the water then I'm leaving.

Hey lady, get my good side.

Where's my contact?

See, this is how you do it.

Yea, it's almost Christmas.

I was afraid my late afternoon stop by the celery fields in Sarasota was not going to produce any sandhill cranes. There were no signs of any my first hour there. I missed the whole two week window of 100's of cranes stopping by phenomenon. Well, I work in retail and it was almost Thanksgiving so what can I do. I finally get out there and no cranes? About half an hour before it got dark a few showed up. Most of them were across the lake where you can't get to including the dancing ones on the bottom but right as the sun was going down two of them wandered over to my side of the lake so all was not lost on the trip.

Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota

Across the parking lot from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota is Save Our Seabirds Rehabilitation Center. They rescue, rehabilitate and release injured wild birds. They also house permanently injured birds. I had never been there before. The place is full of big cages for the birds to fly around in. It's mostly shaded so it didn't feel as hot as it really was walking around. The pictures above are of sandhill cranes that have lost a leg. The center has designed a prosthetic leg for them. Sandhill cranes are easy prey for getting hit by cars and losing a leg is one of the most common injuries from this. I don't know if any of these birds are released later. They seemed to be doing well walking around with the fake leg. The pictures were taken through tiny chicken wire so they are not good pictures but I thought the concept was pretty neat.

Below is a great horned owl that had lost an eye.  The center also had pelicans, shorebirds, raptors, etc. It's a great place to spend an hour or two. No admission fee but they desperately need donations.
Their website - http://saveourseabirds.com/.