A couple of weeks ago I took a week off from work and took a staycation. One of the days I was off I went out to Shell Mound in the Lower Suwannee Valley Wildlife Refuge and Cedar Key to go birding. I was certainly interested in other forms of wildlife, too, but my main objective was birds. And it turned out to be a fabulous day for it, too! Before I even made it to Shell Mound, which was my first stop, I found this family of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) foraging for insects along one of the roads leading into the Refuge. There were two adult birds and a little colt. At first, they were kind of wary of me, but with a little time they lost interest in me and slowly ambled along. I spent about half an hour watching them and taking photos. The one above was one of my favorites (I’ll share more of them later). I like the close shot of the bird’s head and also the fact that you can see through the nares in the bill. This is an anatomical anomaly that allows them to . I think that’s pretty cool!