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!
Life Intrigued 