They winter in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge not on South Padre Island. They're over 160 miles away from South Padre Island.
Posted on 02/03/2007 3:32:31 PM PST by SJackson
evolve or die...
Very interesting. I live in northern Florida, where of course we have scads of Sandhill cranes that pass through every year. They're always impressive to watch, especially when you see an entire prairie full of them. I used to live near a marsh, and during the migration times, the racket of clattering bills and the strange "gronking" noises produced by the storks and other large birds that stayed in the same area was enough to keep you awake all night. I was surprised, because I hadn't realized that these birds were sort of nocturnal, but I suppose perhaps it was a way of keeping predators at bay. Or maybe they were all having a "Migration Party."
Per your profile, you live in North Florida's only liberal County? Liberal or not, you live in a great place! Go Gators.
I feel sorry for all the work for those birds is gone.
They winter in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge not on South Padre Island. They're over 160 miles away from South Padre Island.
They winter in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge not on South Padre Island. They're over 160 miles away from South Padre Island.
I stand corrected. I was probably thinking about the turtles.
BFLR
There are turtle colonies on Padre Island and Galveston. I once took a tour of the turtle hatchery in Galveston. Each turtle had its own pail to swim in while growing big enough to survive after release in the wild.
I used to have a Blue Heron that showed up everytime there was a hurricane. He would hunker down behind the dam for the lake and weather the storm there.
I never saw him except during hurricanes.
I once took a tour of the turtle hatchery in Galveston. Each turtle had its own pail to swim in while growing big enough to survive after release in the wild.
But there must be thousands of turtles hatched in the wild. How many do they put in pails and how big are they when they're released? I've heard that in Mexico, poachers dig up the eggs and sell them as delicacies, wiping out whole colonies. Then most of the hatchlings that make it across the beach and into the sea are eaten before they get big enough to survive.
The hatchlings are grown in a nursery till they're big enough to survive in the wild. Each turtle has its own pail with the bottom cut out in a big sink with hundreds of other turtles. The pails are there to prevent the turtles from injuring each other. Once they've gotten big enough to survive they are released at the beaches near where they hatched.
And about 20 people.
Crane People look like plague doctors.
Their call carries for miles over Florida, too. Once, I was chatting with neighbors when I heard them overhead. Looking up, I could barely make out the flock—they were so high up.
They're also BIG. It's a little spooky to have one peer over your shoulder when you're seated outdoors and reading!
As pointed out, they were once down to only the teens in number in the 1940s: they probably never were very numerous. But, like the ivory-billed woodpecker, I'd hate to have them go extinct in my lifetime. Heck, I only missed seeing mastodons by just 13,000 years!
That surprised me a bit too, I thought they were essentially wild after arriving, returning to Wisconsin on their own.
Seems like one of them made it out alive -
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
