The Ever Changing Big Family (Sandhill Cranes)

 There’s a comedian (don’t recall his name) who had a joke about moving to Florida and commented on the wildlife.  He exclaimed “they have birds THIS big!!!” With his hand gesturing over waist high.  When we moved to a home in a rural area several years ago there was a resident Sandhill Crane we called Big Bird, Bebe for short.  She is BIG!   Over 3 feet tall and she’s gorgeous with lovely yellow eyes.  She showed up every day and loped around the yard chasing off any other birds at her whim.  

Bebe Big

Then one day she was gone.  We watched for her every day but no Bebe.  We were seriously sad and missed her and hoped she was safe.  

Never fear!  This story has a happy ending!  A few weeks later Bebe came back!  With a boyfriend!!!   We dubbed him Big Daddy and they officially became ‘The Bigs’.  Bebe and Big Daddy decided to start a family and we were all in love with the twins who arrived the following spring. 

Every year Bebe and Big Daddy have blessed us with new baby Bigs sometimes building their nest in the lake and sometimes in our yard or a neighbors.   We worry about predators (gators, coyotes, etc.) and have lost a few over the years.  But the hardest part is when Bebe chases off the baby to make room for the next one.  Most cranes have one baby clutch a year, but Bebe has always had two, and sadly the second set has typically not survived.  

But this year we lucked out and Baby Big was brought to visit us in late June and is growing by leaps and bounds!

Today we noticed that Bebe and Big Daddy flew off leaving Baby behind.  So we ran out to see what was happening to cause such a rare event!  She was standing in the yard lost and looking for mom and dad.

Baby Big left alone 

There was a ton of Sandhill cranes circling over the lake and Bebe and Big Daddy were on the chase.  Once the ruckus settled there were 8 cranes on the opposite shore with the Bigs between them and Baby.  8 cranes together is rare as they typically pair up so this is probably a group of  youthful birds still looking for a life partner.  We kept watch on Baby and observed the behavior of the flock.  They eventually moved off, first two, then four and the final two.  They gathered again farther away.  Bebe and Big Daddy moseyed their way back to Baby and everyone settled back into their routine.