Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Strolling Down the Road

Susan at A Southern Daydreamer is the hostess for Outdoor Wednesday. Participants post pictures of anything that they might find outdoors. Come join us.




Johnny and I were driving down the road, and I spotted two strange birds just strolling along. Cars went zipping by. Of course, I had Johnny stop and turn the car back around so that I could take some pictures.


I was concerned for the birds safety, but they kept walking slowly along. Finally, they moved over to a grassy area, close to a pond and began to eat. I waited until I got this nice pose. Wasn't it kind of them to raise up and hold still at the same time?




What kind of bird is this? Anyone know? It looks a bit like a member of the stork family.

PS: Several bloggers have identified the birds as Sandhill Cranes.





43 comments:

jlshall said...

They look like cranes of some sort. I only know because we had to study birds one year when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, and I was assigned cranes as my "special" bird to study. Of course, since that was back in the Pleistocene Era, those birds might actually be extinct by now!

April said...

I haven't a clue what kind of bird that is...how peculiar!

My name is Riet said...

Very special birds LOvely pictures.Have a nice day,,Riet

Becky K. said...

They are very beautiful birds.
It was nice of you to make sure they were safe.

Becky K.

Judi said...

Hi Sally
Now that was nice of that bird to allow you to take pics. Nice specimen of a birdie too. I don't know what it is.
have a lovely day
Judi

Judi said...

Hi Sally
In response to your question about the odor from the brocolli sitting in the vase? Nope there was no odor. I hadn't even paid attention to that. We had them there for 3 days and then threw them out because the yellow flowers were dropping. Now I'm finding that rather interesting.
Judi

sara said...

wow, they are interesting and look BIG!!! I had a strange bird in my back yard a few weeks ago...never did figure out what it was! Good luck!

Vanessa said...

Is this the same bird: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/sandhill_crane/id? I know we have these here in Indiana. They are beautiful flying overhead but I have never had the pleasure of seeing them on the ground.

Sandi@ Rose Chintz Cottage said...

Hi Sally,
How nice of those birds to pose for your photo! They look like cranes to me but my son would probably know. I'll ask him when he drops by. Thanks for sharing and Happy Outdoor Wednesday!

Blessings,
Sandi

LV said...

Sally, you did a good job capturing the great shot of the birds. I am not sure what they are, but like some of the others think, probably in the crane family. They sure made an interesting Outdoor Wednesday post.

squawmama said...

Good Morning Sally, Love the pictures and I am pretty sure that they are Sandhill Cranes... They have the red on the head and you got beautiful shots of them.

(((HUGS)))
Donna

The Muse said...

Wistfully...I am waltzing about blogland today, I have no new posts yet...but, I am stopping in to say hello. There are many wonderfully pleasing places to visit today...(I am trying to see as many friends as I can)...fingers crossed!

Fab shots! Just FAB :)

Identified:
The Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American midwest. This is the most important stopover area for the Lesser Sandhill Crane, Grus (canadensis) canadensis, with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually.
(wiki)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhill_Crane


Glad they made it safely across the road! :)

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Sally, You definitely have a Sandhill Crane... Beautiful bird.
Hugs,
Betsy

storyteller at Small Reflections said...

What a delightful surprise encounter! I'm happy your husband stopped so you could snap these wonderful photos of these cranes and that you shared them here today.
Hugs and blessings,

jeanne said...

Hi Sally, I can see you have been told these are Sandhill cranes. In Kissimmee, Fl. we had them living all around our neighborhood. They mate for life and many times stay in flocks. They pay no mind to cars at all. Often we would see families walking down the middle of the road. Funny birds, we just love them. We have some fabulous shots of the babies with their parents. Bill loves to photograph them.

How fun for you to discover these interesting birds in Central Florida. Great photos Sally.

Hugs...Jeanne

the wild raspberry said...

that is so cool that you got to see those cranes!!! they are amazing...
have a wonderful day~
chasity

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh wow, what a fabulous picture. I have no idea what the birds are, but they really are stately looking ones. I would have been really surprised to see them also. Hugs, Marty

Blondie's Journal said...

Sally,

This is too funny!! These birds are called Sandhill Cranes. My neighbor at the lake identified them for me after I took some pictures of them one day. Have a look at my August 3rd post called "Another Peek at the Lakehouse". I caught some funny antics by these birds!

xoxo
Jane

Queen B. said...

perfect ! Love your post !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sally,
We have a bird kind of like that, he hangs out at our little lake out back.

Ours is a blue heron but does not have the red on it...just the grey blue color and probably some white.

Great shots you got....good job!!

Andrea said...

It looks a lot like the Blue Heron's we have here in Virginia.
Blessings, andrea

Thoughtfully Blended Hearts said...

Hi Sally,
great shots of that Sandhill Crane...I'm glad you got the shots and shared them with us!!!

Coloradolady said...

What interesting birds, no clue what they are, as we don't have anything like this here. Great shots.

Regina said...

So cute. Nice shots.

Love Bears All Things said...

Yes, definitely the Sandhill Crane. They are not native here but I so know they stop by a lake near Chattanooga when they are migrating. It is an annual event.
Mama Bear

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

I had no clue, glad some one else knew. Those are great pictures. Isn't god's world beautiful?
Molly

Barbara H. said...

What a neat sighting!

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Wow! I have never seen them so close up before. We have had quite a few birds close to roads this year as well. Ours have been Canada geese and Swans.

Unknown said...

What pretty birds! Thanks for sharing.

Darlene said...

How neat to see them just strolling along! They look really big!!! Great pictures!!

Happy To Be/ Gl♥ria said...

They look like cranes to me Sally...at first I thought they were emu's until I seen the red on them...great pics and how kind of them to pose for you ha ha!! May you have a great week my friend...Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

Musings of A Minister said...

Beats me! I've never seen birds like these before. Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Cindy said...

I don't know what they are but they look elegant. Great shots of them.
Cindy

Renee said...

Hi
These pictures are so comical!
Thanks for stopping by my blog..you caught me on a very bad day, i am afraid. If you have the time, go back and see how God with unconditional love spoke to me. He is amazing!
Oh, My Spiritual Sundays blog is at
www.myautumnyears.blogspot.com. Ikeep forgetting to change that when I post from there....

God bless

Anonymous said...

Good evening Sally. These birds are really cute. I couldn't imagine what it would be like seeing them walking around town. We have wild geese here but they are not half as interesting as the birds you have in your area.

Mary Bergfeld said...

What wonderful photos. I, of course, knew what the birds were --- after reading several of the posts above :-). It's good to have friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Dawn said...

I don't believe I've ever seen a bird like that before! I always see things that I should stop and take pictures of, but I never do.

You asked about school. I start back on the 8th and Tim on the 9th. Our custodians still haven't cleaned the kindergarten rooms since the close of school and it opens again in two weeks. I am having GREAT anxiety over not being able to get into my classroom. It is not a good feeling and isn't sitting well with me.

take care,
Dawn

Cathy said...

Great pictures, Sally, thanks ~ I am not as good about having my camera with me all the time!

Susan B said...

Wow, great pictures! Beautiful pictures of the cranes. Thank you for sharing them.

Mary said...

Hi Sally, what great pictures! I think the birds may be related to the crane, due to their long, skinny necks, but their coloring seems to be different. If you find out, let us know! Have a wonderful week! Mary

Charlotte said...

How interesting. Aren't you glad you had your camera handy?
Charlotte

Anne Fannie said...

I HATE Cranes. See that long little beak? They like to stab my Koi Fish!
~Ann

Singapore plants lover said...

Cool! The bird.