The largest bird in Florida are Sandhill Cranes which are also the oldest known bird species that survive on earth.
Sandhill cranes are a species of large crane bird of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia.
The common name of the sandhill crane bird refers to their habitat such as the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on the American Great Plains.
Sandhill cranes are known to frequent the edges of bodies of water.
In the summer sandhill cranes go to places such as small bogs, prairies and marshes across southeastern United States and Northern North American.
And in the winter sandhill cranes go to places such as Texas, New Mexico, Apache and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.
Sandhill cranes migrate from late February to April and typically migrate through northern Indiana.
And each Fall Sandhill Cranes make their and migrate South to their wintering grounds that are in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.
Sandhill cranes get as big as 3.2 ft to 3.9 ft and have a wingspan of between 5.9 ft to 6.5 ft.
Male sandhill cranes are slightly bigger than female sandhill cranes and weigh an average of 8.3 lbs compared to a female sandhill cranes average weight of 7.2 lbs.
Sandhill cranes are omnivores and like to eat seeds, berries and roots as well as crop plants such as corn and wheat grains.
Sandhill cranes will also eat rodents, snails, frogs, insects, lizards and nestling birds and they use their pointed beaks to probe for food in marshy areas.
Sandhill cranes can fly as far as 200 miles to 300 miles a day and fly at speeds of around 25 mph to 35 mph.
However some sandhill cranes can reach 500 miles a day with a good tailwind when flying.
The reason sandhill cranes stand on one leg is to keep their leg warm.
Sandhill cranes and other birds are warm blooded and because the sandhill crane has higher temperatures and smaller bodies than humans they lose their body heat more readily than humans.
Sandhill Cranes sleep in the water because the damp areas and water allow the Sandhill crane to stay protected from predators.
Sandhill cranes will nest in small and isolated wetlands such as in bogs, Swales and marshes or they may even nest within 300 yards of the edges of larger wetlands.
Sandhill cranes also prefer areas with vegetation that grows in standing water although some sandhill cranes may nest on dry ground.
Sandhill cranes do soar in thermals which are updrafts of warm air and will circle until they reach the desired altitude which is usually between 5,000 feet to 15,000 feet.
Sandhill cranes usually fly as fast as 53 mph.
Sandhill cranes are territorial during the breeding season and each pair will also defend their nesting area and return to the same territory season after season.
Sandhill cranes do not go into trees as they spend all their time on the ground when they are not flying.
In the wintertime sandhill cranes will roost in water and feed on dry land or in a shallow flooded habitat.
Sandhill cranes lay eggs between the months of December and August in non migratory populations.
Sandhill cranes in migratory populations the sandhill cranes lay their eggs in the months of April and May.
Sandhill cranes do not travel alone and instead they travel in groups and fly together.
Even juvenile sandhill cranes will form groups that fly together after they've been abandoned by their parents before they form their mated pairs.
The reason sandhill cranes fly in circles is to gain altitude.
When a sandhill crane takes off from the ground around mid day the sandhill crane will start flapping until they find a thermal of warm air rising from the ground.
Then the sandhill crane circles in the thermal of warm air to gain the altitude needed.
The migration route of sandhill cranes is a 75 mile stretch of Nebraska's Platte River during spring migration.
In the early spring the sandhill cranes will migrate north and then can be seen in a variety of states in the Midwest and West, which includes Indiana, Montana, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico.
Sandhill cranes are endangered because of wetland loss and development as well as habitat loss.
Two subspecies of sandhill cranes are also federally listed as being endangered on the endangered species list.
A group of sandhill cranes is called a Sedge.
Sandhill Cranes form extremely large flocks—into the tens of thousands—on their wintering grounds and during migration and they most often migrate very high in the sky.
Sandhill cranes are called ribeye in the sky because they have the best tasting meat of all wild game birds.
Sandhill cranes jump up and down to show off how they are able to defend their nest from predators.
Sandhill cranes and other cranes mate for life and will dance together year round and before the sandhill cranes dance they hop and flap their wings and squawk.
At night sandhill cranes sleep standing in shallow water which does not come up above their heads.
Sandhill cranes also love the area they sleep in at night to be free from any trees or other cover for at least 100 yards around them and some sandhill cranes will even roost on dry ground.
Sandhill cranes are webless migratory game birds which also includes, dove,s rails, woodcock, pigeons, gallinules, coot, snipe and moorphen.
Sandhill cranes migrate to places such as Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas in the winter.
The difference between a sandhill crane and a whooping crane is that Sandhill cranes stand nearly 5 feet tall and whooping cranes or even taller than Sandhill cranes.
Sandhill Cranes are slightly smaller than Whooping Cranes and they are slate gray rather than white.
When a crane is in your yard it means justice and retribution and the Crane visiting you may also indicate that you will rectify a wrong, get closure over a troubling event and expose someone.
Also in legends the Crane has always been a metaphor for witnessing wrongdoings and bringing culprits to justice.
A Crane is bigger than a heron as the Crane is very large and a heron is a medium to large bird.
The Crane however is taller and with a shorter neck and beak than a heron.
You can tell the difference between a heron and a Crane by looking at their necks.
The difference between herons and cranes are the Cranes' necks are a shorter than those of herons, and they typically hold them straight.
This is particularly obvious when the birds are flying.
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognized species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons.
Herons live in Marshes, swamps, shores, tideflats. Very adaptable.
Forages in any kind of calm fresh waters or slow-moving rivers, also in shallow coastal bays.
Nests in trees or shrubs near water, sometimes on ground in areas free of predators.
Herons are sociable birds when nesting, invariably nesting in long-established heronries.
Most heronries are in trees, with the majority of nests at least 25m above the ground.
However, reed-bed heronries are not unusual, and they will also nest on cliffs, bushes, sometimes even on buildings of bridges.
Most herons will eat 1 to 4 fish per day depending on how hungry the heron is that day or at that time.
The heron might come get 1 or 2 fish at a time and then eat those fish and then come back later when the heron is hungry again and eat some more fish.
I've seen a heron eat 2 fish when they were ready to eat the fish.
The heron got one fish and ate the fish and then went for another fish again and ate that fish and then took off.
I'm not sure if that fish ever came back again but it likely did the same evening or at least the next day.
The heron will eat as many fish as it wants too or needs to so it satisfies it's hunger.
Once the heron is not hungry anymore the heron will stop eating the fish and wait until they are hungry again.