Goose or Sandhill Crane?

By Betty McKeown

Imagine my surprise as I returned from a birding trip over to Black Point Drive in November, when I noticed five Sandhill Cranes standing near and on the road’s shoulder with a Greylag Goose. It had been months since I had seen that goose and two of those cranes anywhere.

You see, I had first seen this family in my neighborhood over by Lake Lizzie one day about two years ago. This unusual family, much like many of the non-traditional families today made up of his children, her children, their children, is still a family that works. When the goose first showed up, it couldn’t fly and it would get into a “snit” when the cranes flew off and left it. The goose would walk around the neighborhood proclaiming in a very loud voice how unhappy it was at the current predicament. It would wander up and down the yards and roads honking again and again.

We don’t know how the goose got here but it was at an opportune time because the Sandhill Crane couple had lost their chick and took the goose “under their wings” so to speak. That they were very different looking didn’t seem to matter. It has been over two years and the family has expanded.

One day I noticed they were missing from our neighborhood and I wondered what had happened. Then as I drove back from Titusville on Nova Road in Osceola County I noticed a sign that said Desert Youth Camp. And near it stood this unusual family which I saw every now and then. Then they seemed to disappear and on many trips over to the coast I didn’t see them. So you can imagine my surprise and happiness that they are alive and well. And you can also imagine how upset I was that I almost ran them down with my car because the Cranes blended in with the color of the road and I almost didn’t see them. So if you travel Nova Road, I’m asking that you watch for this family, slow down, enjoy the sight and for pete’s sake don’t run over them.