Colts & Red Crowns
I like to see sandhill cranes as guardians of our wetlands and grasslands. After all, their presence can tell us a lot about these lands.
For a recap, please check out my sandhill crane reel on Instagram!
In its golden hour, the setting sun gives Florida grasslands and wetlands a magnificent glow. The final chirps of songbirds are being chirped away. The last feeding for squirrels, rabbits and deer has commenced. The humans are hurriedly moving between lanes to get home and enjoy the sweet retreat of their homes. The glorious calls of sandhill cranes seem to overpower it all as they fly through the pinks, purples, oranges and reds of the sky. Their trumpeting calls are so impressive that they can be recognized and heard from miles away, up to two and a half, to be exact.
Sandhill cranes are one of Florida’s most iconic gems. They come from an ancestry that is millions of years old. The oldest direct fossil of a sandhill crane is about 2.5 million years old. These cranes are often found in Florida but live in many parts of North America. For simplicity, the species I discuss here is the Florida subspecies. However, much of this information still applies to all six currently recognized subspecies.
Throughout the years, their resilience has given a defining characteristic to this state. I would see them everywhere, so Florida and sandhill cranes were almost synonymous to me. Yet I never took the time to appreciate their kind growing up in Florida. Their gray and brown feathers and red crowns were cool features to observe. But at the time, they were just birds to me and not much else.
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Several years back, two cranes created a nest in the retention pond behind my house. Seeing them every day grew my interest. I would observe their morning activity before school and come home to do the very same while I ate my unfinished packed lunch. After about a month, two baby sandhill cranes, or colts, hatched and it was an eye-opening experience. For a few months after, I saw these little colts grow up. Now, “Colts” was a curious name, mostly because that made zero sense to me. But I learned that the chicks quickly leave the nest after hatching (within eight hours). Soon after that, they’re ready to run around and go for a bit of a swim. This makes them what’s known as precocial, or capable of independence, to a certain degree, after birth. The comparison makes sense since actual colts can walk and run around soon after birth.
The colts learned from their parents how to satisfy their hungry little stomachs. That was no problem for them because their diet is quite diverse. They use their beaks to probe and poke around, cleaning off dirt with their tongues. So they will stab through the grass to search for roots, berries, seeds, grains, insects, small rodents, fish and amphibians.
If you’ve seen one, you’ve also probably seen them looking for food. But their presence isn’t anything ordinary. Their presence is a vital indicator of that ecosystem. Through that poking and prodding, they can show us that wetlands and grasslands are in a healthy state. It doesn’t show whether those lands are perfect or how much protection is needed. That’s additional homework that scientists help us understand. However, they are a great way to grasp how those lands are doing. Their presence means good health and a healthy wetland or grassland means more biodiversity, less soil erosion, and better flood control.
Flipping this perspective, the more we encroach on precious lands, the more we put the lives of species like the sandhill crane at stake. For this reason, sandhill cranes faced the concern of endangerment. Then, with more protections for both lands and the cranes, we saw significant population growth. These protections show us that the conservation of wetlands and grasslands and sandhill cranes cannot be mutually exclusive, as with all species and whole ecosystems.
People often take these birds to be a nuisance. They become especially annoyed with sandhill cranes as they slowly cross the road, or because they dig up lawns, or fight their own reflection coming off a window or car. Those tussles with their reflection can lead to damaged property, and you know us humans: we get very upset with wildlife when the most minor inconvenience happens. Often, sandhill cranes are harassed off property, and people will use mixes and chemicals to ward them off further.
I’m here to share that we should try to look at it differently! I agree that a torn patio screen or scratches on a car aren’t fun. No one wants to spend what is already precious time on something like fixing a screen. But seeing these cranes also means free pest control, if nothing else, for us. As I mentioned, they eat a variety of things, so that diet is extremely valuable to helping people live pest-free lives (for the most part). For any fellow Floridians, you must admit that any form of pest control is better than nothing when we live in “the Australia of the USA,” as social media likes to say.
So the next time you see one, try to consider yourself lucky! Plus, at least we get to see them in North America. For a short window in the year, places like Japan will only see approximately one to five sandhill cranes. That means you have to be at the right place, be there at the right time, and have incredible luck to get a glimpse of them. But, if you’re from East Asia, try to plan a trip to Florida because I guarantee rarity will quickly turn into ubiquity. Whether as a colt or adorned in a red crown, sandhill cranes are invaluable members of our daily lives.
