Mar 23, 2010

Florida Sandhill Cranes

baby birds

Look what we spotted in our neighborhood!
I finally feel like spring is officially here.
These little guys are Sandhill Crane hatchlings. We have quite a few families of them here and they stay together even as adults.

sandhill crane The difference in size to the adults is so striking! The mother bird stands about four to five feet tall and their wingspan is six to eight feet. When they fly overhead ( we can hear them coming ) they create quite a breeze!

sandhill crane I hope to be able to get photos of them as they grow and track their progress. I do worry about the alligators in the waters near where they live. I've seen a few more of them this year as well, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for these new little ones. Happy Spring!

6 comments:

elsie said...

WOW! I can't believe you already have chicks - our water birds seem to just be getting "busy"!! Lovely shots!

Amanda said...

Oh my gosh, how crazy. I can't imagine stepping outside to see one of these giant birds! Amazing. :)

Lin said...

WOW! I never saw those before!! I can see the adults waaayyyy up in the sky migrating, but I don't ever see them on the ground--and definitely not their babies!!! Thanks for sharing those photos.

Oh, I hope the alligators don't get them either!

hipumpkins said...

My parents live in Florida so we see these birds often when we visit. I have never seen the babies and can't wait to show my daughter, who loves these birds, these pics. She likes to flap her arms to see whether she can get the birds to flap back. They often do.

Vixen said...

How cute. They are so fuzzy!

DJ said...

@elsiee: Thanks, I've seen some Moorhens already too.
@demandablog: Yeah, it's like having and ostrich staring at you.
@Lin: Hopefully the alligators are too busy breeding as well :)
@hipumpkins: I hope she enjoys the photos! I plan to get shots of them as they grow up.
@Vixen: There really are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails