I put this pic in my blog, but thought other bird lovers might appreciate it: These are sandhill cranes, we have a lot of them in this area. They like to stroll down the street, checking out the neighbors and perusing the occasional bird feeder. They like to sneak up on me when I pull weeds. They eat grubs and other creepy crawlies, but also enjoy bird seed, peanuts, and the handout of a bit of bread. I try to give them the whole wheat for the extra bit of nutrition. They do NOT care for tortillas.
They are so interesting looking.Maybe a little nosey even.I wish they would visit here.Help themselves to all the grasshoppers in my yard.
You are right, the ARE very nosy! They can be NOISY too, they do a weird mating dance and have the strangest croaking call. I once saw one that had been hit by a car...probably some loser with a cellphone glued to their head, and I stopped to try and help it. I picked it up (they are bulky, but lightweight), and moved it away from the road. He laid his head on my shoulder and seemed to know I was trying to help. He could have put one of my eyes out if he wanted, but he didn't act agressive at all. He died just a few minutes later, I wished I could have helped him more......
They are such wonderful characters, aren't they? It's a great photo, Anna, it sounds as if the ones in your neighborhood are quite tame. So sorry that you couldn't save the injured one, it was good of you to try, of course the driver who hit the bird couldn't be bothered. Birds are amazingly strong creatures, but they don't always recover well from injuries.
Those birds don't exactly run out into traffic so the driver was obviously not paying attention, lucky for them it wasn't a small child, although they probably wouldn't have stopped either. The hit and run rate is very high here. I love these birds, when they show up it is like a good friend stopping to visit.
Such beautiful birds! It's a shame about the hit and run. Great photo too..I wish we had sandhills around here.
They can be kind of...embarrassing. If I am outside pulling weeds and they'll be standing over me watching me work....cars tend to slow way down and I try to melt into the ground. Sometimes they are so close I can hear them breathing.
I am not sure, but I think maybe their curiousity gets the better of them. They are more cautious when they have chicks with them. Sometimes they'll take food from my hand. They are so delicate when they do it. If they are on the street and they see me come out they start running over, it's kind of funny.
