Florida Sandhill Cranes
March 14th, 2008
Florida’s sandhill cranes are a threatened species that are found in inland shallow freshwater marshes, prairies, pastures and farmlands. Sandhill cranes are usually seen in small family groups or pairs.
Florida’s sandhill population is year round but the number of sandhill cranes in Florida increases in the winter as the Northern migratory sandhills come down. The Florida sandhills are more rare than their Northern cousins, but are not considered endangered like other Southern Sandhill populations, including Mississippi and Cuban sandhills.
This particular family of Sandhills was spotted just yesterday afternoon in a Stuart development known as Martin’s Crossing. This area has shallow water and preservation areas that are the natural habitat for these large birds. The cranes wade in the water but do not fish like other water birds, they instead eat things such as seeds, tubers, lizards, frogs and crayfish to name a few.
Like their endangered cousins the whooping cranes, these large birds live longer than most bird species, some living up to 20 years.
