Much Ado About Something
Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:35AM About 8AM, as I was sipping my morning Signature Crema and perusing the NY Times, a very loud clacking broke the normal solitude of south Florida in the summer. It's hard to describe the noise. Imagine the sound of clacking your tongue against the roof of your mouth as hard as you can and then multiply that by a thousand decibles. I immediately recognized the sound and ran to get my camera. Dressed in only a short nightie, I greeted the Sand Hill Cranes feeding in our front yard.
Sand Hill Cranes mate for life. These appeared a rather young couple and had no chicks with them. These youngish adults were about four feet tall, maybe a little more. Our area is loaded with them and one must often stop the car when driving through our neighborhood to allow a Sand Hill Crane family to cross the road. The chicks are adorable, brown fuzzy and over two feet tall.
When I walked up to the cranes they had absolutely no fear of me and just continued feedng. They had been vocalizing at Taffy whom they had spotted looking out the kitchen window. She never barked at them and was, in fact, so traumatized by their aggressive clacking at her that she immediately ran and took to her bed.
I do so love being home...
Sand Hill Crane, South Florida in Americana, Everyday Ramblings
Reader Comments (3)
Dana,
Aren't we blessed by nature and creation? Beautiful pictures! My Mom had a huge blue Heron down at her lake home that came every morning. You could set your watch by him.
There's no place like home.
Bren
the cranes look magnificent not sure they wld be if they were protecting their nest or something. i love seeing the heron's on our nearby lake takeoff, the nickname is the old grey fisherman so very drab in comparison to your cranes. also love watching swans landing on water always find it fascinating.
Where is your picture in the nightie? Hope all is well in Florida. Raining like crazy here in the northeast.