My first Christmas morning in Florida felt odd….no snow, no chilly weather, no need to put on a warm parka. Instead of going to the usual locales, I decided to try a site that I had not visited previously, the Sharon Rose Wiechens Preserve in The Villages. Some nice waterfowl have been spotted in this area, so I thought maybe I could pick up a new species for the trip. I won’t go into details about The Villages, since there is nothing natural about this town/city/development, with its seemingly endless side-by-side homes and lawns interspersed with golf courses and fake village squares. The ‘preserve’ was disappointing too, consisting of a large pond adjacent to a power line right-of way with manicured lawn and a dog walk and golf course all located between the parking area and the pond. But it did have a nice ~1000-ft horseshoe-shaped boardwalk over the edge of the wetland.
The ‘preserve’ runs under a powerline (running from top-to-bottom through the center of this photo), with golf courses on the left, a dog park on top, and the boardwalk jutting into the pond toward the lower right. Some preserve.
I walked the length of the boardwalk, spotting the usual waterfowl around here…mostly Ring-necked Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, and Common Gallinules. Since the sun was in my eyes walking in that direction, I decided to do the reverse route. As I started back, a pair of large…no, enormous…white birds flew across the pond. The slowness of the wingbeats was very noticeable. They had all-white wings except for black ‘fingertips’. The bills were straight. This combination of features leaves only one possibility…..Whooping Cranes. Yes, Whooping Cranes! There are only ~660 of them in the wild, with the majority wintering along the Texas coast, only 80 birds (!!!) in the entire eastern population, with a few pairs that overwinter in Florida. The word ”majestic’ immediately comes to mind. My camera was in the car, there was nobody else around, but I didn’t care because it was quiet (as it should be), and I had my Christmas present.
ps… Since I didn’t get any photos I went back to the area on New Year’s Day and re-found them, so they become Christmas and New Year gifts.
