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One Sandhill Crane's Story Begins, Part II
By Delores Knowles
The Sanhill Cranes, standing about four feet in height, are one of the more numerous large wading birds in Florida and in much of North America. While the male and female are almost identical, when you can identify a mated breeding pair, the female will usually be slightly smaller both in height and in body size. They do mate for life. Many times, this bird is mistakenly called either a heron or an egret. The Sandhill can be spotted from the air quite easily as he filies with his neck fully outstretched unlike the herons and egrets who fily with their necks folded and their heads brough back. Part I of this intel covered the building of the nest and the hatching of the little Sandhill Crane chick at the pond out in back of our home. By 4 weeks, the chick had developed some nice long legs and could move quite fast. While the parents never seemed to mind me taking pictures of the chick, they were always close at hand watching me. At 8 weeks, he had good body formation but was still an all-over beige color. His eyes were still brown and had not changed to the brilliant orange they would become. At 12 weeks, coloration patterns were beginning to form. Baby fuzz was giving way to well-developed feathers. At 18 weeks, the red is definitely showing on his head and he is currently a little larger than his mother. They continue to be a family group. but now that baby is almost grown, they wander farther and farther away to feed. Sometimes three or four days might pass without seeming them, and then I’ll look up from reading a book on my back porch and see the three of them walking along the bank. Often, the male will raise his head and look in my direction as if to ask “Are you still there?” At six months, the younster is now as large as his adult parents and the top of his head has begun to take on the red that it will be as an adult. At 9 months, the top of his head has now turned red. They still stay together as a family group until it’s time for the parents to mate again and then the youngster will go off to search for a companion of his own.
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Contributor's Note
All photos were taken by me are protected by copyright laws.
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The Sandhill Chick at Four Weeks
Long Legs at Five Weeks
At 6 months color appears on top of head
At 9 months, the chick is all grown up
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Birds and Such
Informational site about Wild Birds
www.birdsandsuch.com
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The copyright for this content entitled "One Sandhill Crane's Story Begins, Part II" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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