Florida Fine Feathered Friends

Hi Everyone,

We have so many birds around now that it is cold all over much of the United States, and many birds spend those cold months in Florida. Of course, there are many here who live here all the time. Among them are Sea Gulls and Sand Hill Cranes.  I took my grandson to the "beach"  here, which is really sand around the Big Lake, and we fed the birds. We sat in the car with windows down and some of the gulls almost flew right in the windows, much to the excitement of my grandson! It was fun. Once we were there feeding the birds and a car of "Snow Birds" went by and slowed down. You know what "Snow Birds" are, don't you? You may be one! They are folks who come from other states to winter in the warm Florida weather. Most of them are lovely, sweet people and are helpful to Florida's economy, but there are a few hateful ones, just like from anywhere else. So the slowed down car had a hateful old man calling out, "Stop throwing rocks at the birds, little boy!" Well, he sounded so mean and it scared my grandson, so I called back that we were FEEDING the birds and he retorted, " I'll Bet!"  Then they drove on. Needless to say, I called after him to come back to talk, but of course they were off, probably saying how awful we were to throw rocks at birds. You know, people need to know the facts before opening their mouths!! And especially to little children.

Well, here are the lovely

Sand Hill Cranes back in our yard again. They are so elegant and always one will watch while one forages.

I hope they nest close by and bring a chick or two for us to see.