First off, getting word back that our extended family member at our western HQ is out of ankle surgery and resting at home. Continued best wishes for a quick recovery from all of us here!
Meanwhile we are busy getting our Christmas tree(s) trimmed and the rest of the “Hallmarkification” completed ahead of our upcoming holiday gathering. One of our favorite events each December was heading out to the local tree farm, traipsing all over the grounds until we eventually made our way back to the first tree we looked at and then prepared for battle – first reminding the arms what it was like before the days of chainsaws and then testing our marriage as we struggled to get the 10+’ tree back to the entrance for bundling and payment. Eventually we shifted our hunt to a particular hardware store in town that featured our favored Fraser Fir. The tree lot owner came down from Michigan every year and would set aside what he thought was his best 11+’ footer for us. Didn’t have the traditional feel to it, but was easier on the marriage ha! Then a couple of years ago we decided the effort to take down the tree on Christmas day or the day after was more effort than we were willing to take on, needing to get that flame accelerator out of the house before heading south. Now we have a 12′ artificial. Do I miss the “Fun old-fashion family Christmas” trek into the country to embrace “the frosty majesty of winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols”. I guess the answer is kinda – it felt like a grounding against the corporatization of the holiday…but looking down at the weather forecast and seeing that it will dip down to 3F tonight…maybe the twinkling plastic isn’t such a bad thing. If nothing else, it cuts down on the constant “Lotta sap in here!” jokes between us.
While I give the ankle a good workout on the ladder, thought I would bring you the next installment in our “Baby Month” series.
Hit the jump to oooh and ahhhh over some more shots of adorable colts.
You likely do not remember, but last year’s Thanksgiving I brought you a series of a Sandhill family we encountered while visiting Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville, Florida (link here). At the time I didn’t know it was going to become a habit of substituting for actual Wild Turkeys – believe this is the third year in a row I failed to get Turkeys in the queue for the Thanksgiving holiday (Quail for 2023, Cranes for 2024 and now a stretch with Gators for 2025). Writing it down now: “Tin Turkeys for 2026”.
In that previous series, we featured parents taking their single colt out for a stroll. The standard clutch size for Sandhills and most of the Crane family is 1 to 2 with the exception going to 3. To be honest, I have never see a 3 colt family in the field and generally it is the single colt situation. From information obtained on our visits to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin (link here), I know that the Whooping Cranes tend to pick one of the eggs to “favor” usually putting the other egg into jeopardy. The conservationists try to “rescue” this unfavored egg and provide manual incubation if not able to put it into another barren nest. I am not aware that Sandhills have this similar behavior and more of just a struggle to get multiples through fledging process.
That is why I always give a hardy congratulations when I see TWO colts out exploring with their parents. The struggle is real and owes to the parenting skills to get them to this point.
Turns out this feature of a Sandhill Crane family also comes to you from Sweetwater Wetlands Park. We were lucky enough to enjoy two separate adorable colt sightings.
This family was discovered the day after that previous series. At first I thought it might be the same family and I just missed the second colt, but these offspring were clearly younger than that single colt. The general rule is the younger they are the more adorable they are and this is proof to that adage. If your heart doesn’t melt at the sight of these two recent fledglings, then you might set your expectations to something darker and lumpier in this year’s stockings.
Need to correct a previous statement regarding “finding” this family – in truth, I was just sitting on a covered bench in the far back of the park when this family strolled up and past me keeping closer to the deeper grass/shrubs along the banks of the waterway. I mainly mention that because that also happens to be one of the most dangerous places to be.. especially if you can’t fly. The Gators that lurk in those waters are abundant, enormous and these cuties would have zero chance of escape should one get a hankering for takeout.
Not entirely sure what the parents would do in that situation and incredibly grateful I didn’t have to witness the answer to that quandary. Just going to put that thought right out and focus on the happiness these little ones brought. Their golden hues, inquisitive outlook and those still developing wings that will one day grow to a wingspan of nearly 79 inches bring a mighty smile
There I sat as they slowly made their way past making sure to keep my movements slow so as not to spook the parents. Fortunately, I was able to slide off the bench without much disruption to bring you some lower angle shots. Probably difficult to tell, but there is a small insect just in front of the colts in the shot below that the little ones seem to be eyeing intently – you might have to click on the image to bring up the larger shot. Hmm, did I ever mention that for just about all the shots featured on Intrigued you can click on the image and get a larger view? The one exception is if the shot isn’t up to our standard quality and a larger view would not enhance it.
While in Florida last week, someone came up to me and asked me what I was taking picture of. “Mostly birds” He then asked me why I take pictures of birds. Ever have one of those moments when you can feel some kind of odd switch happening in the brain – like some delay as it tries to comprehend a situation or question. This is the first time I had ever been asked that and after thousands of conditional switch statements fired off in a split second the answer selected was an ode to the Eels “Because I Like Birds”.
He responded with “Oh” and went back to talking to his companion. I still mentally replay that interaction. Was he curious as to why anyone would have an interest in birds or was the question really more in the line of are you taking pictures of birds ..for a magazine, publisher, book, research or other professional means and didn’t get the question fully formed. If the ladder then I should have definitely responded differently – a new condition switch added to my mental response calculator. If the former, then quite frankly the answer is he hasn’t had the pleasure of photographing these cute colts.
If you haven’t noticed, I am slowly moving into the video realm as more of a companion piece to the still photography. I still love the snap experience and all the challenges that brings, but I’ve been working on filling my YouTube channel with various videos from various sites we visit, wildlife encounters and, of course, all the haunt projects. For some unknown reason I keep forgetting I just need to hit the little button on the back of the camera to switch it to movie mode versus fumbling around for the phone camera. By the time I got all the tins I wanted and switched to the phone they had moved further away.
You can still the little colts chasing after mom and even see her teaching them how to hunt by placing food in the ground in front of them. Bonus, my current heartbeat ha.
Hope you enjoyed this second entry in the “Baby Month” theme. Take care everyone and note, the best way to get that Eels song out your head is just to sing it out loud and proud ha!
Wildlife Intrigued 
Cute! I’ve never seen baby cranes before.
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Glad I could introduce you to a new element of the birding world Diana! As you can guess, they are far more adorable in person, so hopefully you will get to experience them in the wild for yourself in the future. Thank you for dropping by, we truly appreciate it. Take care.
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Those creanlettes are adorable. We only get to see adults and teenagers. Good move on the artificial tree. It makes every bone in my body ache with the very thought of trying to drag a cut tree into a house. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but in our going-on 44 years of marriage, we have never had a traditional Christmas tree. “ “I Like Birds” is a great song.
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I used to joke that only worked out all year so I was strong enough to get the Christmas tree into the house. Ironically, the 12′ we have now has to be transferred from upstairs storage to its downstairs display area a section at a time because I can’t lift the full box – the delivery company had to bring an extra guy that day to get it out of the truck and onto our porch. We finally have it all trimmed out now and will definitely include it in one of the posts as we get closer to Christmas.
I heard that song (at least part of it) while watching The Big Year movie and I’ve had it in my playlist ever since. I actually like a lot of the Eels songs but they are generally depressing in nature – I also have Money from the Flying Lizards on the playlist thanks to the Empire Records movie. That is my second favorite movie of ALL time and the soundtrack is incredible – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNd4EZCoce9339MpRK7jR77kvsR0dxT3i – that entire playlist is a large part of my running music.
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I bought the Flying Lizards album with Money way back in the 80s. Great cover. OK album.
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Wow, you are the only person I know that had the actual album – agree with you, the overall offering was rather weak, but that song is an earworm for sure. They hit on a universal theme ha.
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I guess that’s why the album didn’t chart.
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We had a natural tree for our first 5 years together. Then I suffered the ignomany of watching our natural tree slowly drop every one of its needles over the nine months it sat in the back yard, leaning in the corner, poking its forlorn little top branches over the fence to peer sadly at the neighbors. Our only excuse was 80-hour weeks. So the next Christmas we got an artificial one, and if it sat undressed in our front entry for 3 months before getting back into its box and toddling off to the garage, well, we didn’t mind so much.
Baby Sandhills are top of the adorables list, and your almost-ground-level photos are wonderful. Great capture of the parental behavior of placing food on the ground for the chicks to pick up – I saw that down at Aransas, too.
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Hahaha, I can feel the strings of the heart being strummed as each of those needles hit the ground. I can definitely relate to the 80-hour weeks and do not miss those day AT ALL. Fortunately, for Linda, Brad and myself, our employer would shut down over the holidays for multiple weeks in or to save money with heating our huge factories so we always got to enjoy our Christmas – they did a similar thing in July which is why most of my colleagues and us all have anniversaries that month.
I will admit, while I was near the ground it did occur to me there were likely long snouted creatures with beady eyes debating their chances hehehe. Glad you picked up on the “teaching” moments, so entertaining to watch them cascade skills they will need to survive. As always, appreciate you coming by Sam and hopefully your holidays festivities are going well as we move closer to Christmas.
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I’ve never seen baby sandhills. I’ve seen the adults but it’s a real treat to see the babies.
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The look so different from their adult shape don’t they! It is amazing they have such a transformation as they mature into one of the largest birds in the US. Just as exciting as seeing the colts is watching how the parents teach them how to hunt by placing bugs etc, in front of them as they walk.
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Yes, it’s a beautiful thing.
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We have been “oohing” and “aahing” over the cute youngsters☺️
The young ones (as you mentioned in a previous reply to my comment) have such large eyes that seem full of wonder and curiosity, I can’t help but smile. Their parents seem very devoted as well.
We’re glad your extended family is out of surgery and recovering back home. Thank you for introducing the song – it’s the first time I heard it!
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Glad you like the song, it’s a bit quirky, but I always bring it up when we are about to go out in the field to get us in the mood ha. I heard it for the first time in the movie The Big Year and it has stuck with me ever since. Note, if you haven’t seen that show, you definitely need to give it a watch, I think you will like it.
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Ah! That explains it☺️ We did watch ‘The Big Year’ a few years ago and now I see the song was in this film. The original book was quite enjoyable too. Thanks for the clarification.
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Have not delved into the book yet – read a lot of good books related to others going through their big year, but not from those famous three. Someday…but I have so many bird reference books to get through before then – always learning!
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Only been asked “what are you photographing?” once? You should take up butterfly photography. The reaction is usually one of “we have a right weirdo here, are the kids at a safe distance?”!
I’m going against the general flow here. I reckon those crane chicks are a bit, er, goofy.
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Hahahaha – well, I can see getting weird looks when they see you up to your eyeballs in weeds trying to get a shot of those spastic Butters! From the responses I’ve received, I have to say you are in the minority B.! Admittedly, the colts look a bit lanky, but when they flap those little stubby wings you just gotta produce a grin from ear to ear – remind me of those old cartoons where the body features are way out of proportion. Thanks for dropping in B, guessing you are pretty tired from all the wedding events.
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Hi, I subscribed for the “Baby Month” theme! This header photograph captured my attention. I love your simple answer “Mostly birds”.
I follow Sam Rappen who is wonderful. I’m looking forward to reading about your “Baby Month” adventures. Sounds like a sweet bird treat.
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Welcome aboard TD! We love Sam’s work and glad you found us. Like Same, we feature various wildlife in our posts (similarly heavily focused on birds ha) and hope you enjoy our offerings. More Babies on the way, so stay tuned! Take care and thanks again for subscribing.
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Thanks for the well wishes; she’s resting and recovering and ready to edit more stories. What adorable cuties?! Little fuzzy ones always make me smile. And I probably take way more photos than I need.
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Good to hear! The first few days (after the block wore off) were the worst, but once past that, it was manageable. Trust me, I had a LOT of shots from this brief encounter. The auto-sensor seems to go wonky trying to focus on the fine feather wisps so I’m constantly shooting trying to get better and better shots. Don’t work our editor too hard while you are out there.
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Wonderful photos! Though we have Sandhill cranes in our area, I have never seen the babies before! Thank you so much!
I will have to visit the rookery in Venice to check out the new babies this year!
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Glad I could introduce you to the early years of Crane life Cheryl. As my UK friend above mentioned they can look a bit goofy, but those little wings flapping away will quickly dissipate any stress you are having that day. Good luck on the Venice visit. Unlike most birds in a rookery that fill the trees, look towards ground level to see the nesting Sandhills as they tend to make their nests near if not in wetlands. Appreciate you coming by and keep any eye out for all those Gators you got down there.
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Very nice Brian. It’s always interesting to see young, especially when they grow to a much larger size. And the fact that even with a telephoto lens you were able to get so close to photograph them.
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Oftentimes my ability to get close is entirely depended on the disposition of the parents. These Sandhill parents were very trusting – maybe not the smartest birds out there ha. Get too close to a Gosling and you will get your ass bit! Take care Jerry and thanks for dropping in.
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