Why not Sandhills? They are resident in central Florida, according to the
range map in the NGS guide. And they often are associated with agriculture.
Four feet tall with a 6 foot wingspan also fits.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Ray <scray at wolfenet.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, January 19, 1998 10:31 PM
Subject: Sandhills?


>Does anybody have any idea what birds this lady is talking about?
>Surely not Sandhill Cranes(?). Found this posting on
>sci.agriculture.poultry
>
>: My new chicken coop in Central Florida as attracted some unexpected
>: guest. Every winter 5 to 8 Sand Hill Cranes live on my property. They
>: have never had any chicks before, but yesterday I found a clutch of
>: eggs (3) in a bale of straw they've been tearing into for the last
>: week, building a nest apparently. Today I enclosed the area, much to
>: the anger of the cranes, with a large pen of wire, open on top of
>: course. The cranes can fly in, but the critters can't just walk to the
>: next and feast on the eggs. My question is does anyone have any idea
>: how long a Crane's egg takes to hatch?
>
>: Two of the cranes live on my property year round. I started setting
>: out feed 4 years ago and they just stayed year round. The cranes are
>: common in my area and every now and then you see them with chicks.
>: Does anyone have any ideas? BTW, these birds are about 4 feet tall,
>: with a wingspan of over 6 feet, and noisier than a flock of roosters,
>: but what a sight! And the chickens just line up at the fence and watch
>: the cranes all day, cheap entertainment, I guess.
>
>O
>
>Scott Ray
>Yakima, WA
>
>