The cranes are basically opportunistic herbivores, living off whatever plants or seeds are available at the time; they can manage to find food in drier upland areas as well as shallow wetlands. Today, these large birds are found predominately in North America. Now over 8,000 Sandhill Cranes can be found throughout the State of Michigan. Sandhill cranes are large birds with long necks and legs. These tall, gray-bodied, crimson-capped birds breed in open wetlands, fields, and prairies across North America. The bird was almost extinct due to overhunting and habitat loss. Some of their favorite meal items include seeds , plant tubers, grains , berries , insects , earthworms , mice , snakes, lizards, frogs and crayfish. Cranes, including Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis), also feature in North America art, where their penetrating calls and elaborate dances have found a place in the fabrics and painting and dance of Native Americans and our contemporary culture. Whether stepping singly across a wet meadow or filling the sky by the hundreds and thousands, Sandhill Cranes have an elegance that draws attention. This nest is in Melbourne, about an hour and a half drive for me. They are about 1.2 m tall, and have wing spans of about 2 m. They are grayish all over, with a white cheek and a bright red bald crown. Many sandhill cranes are killed each year on Florida roads. I’ve been very fortunate over the past week as I had the opportunity to observe a newborn Sandhill Crane baby at his nest. Over the past few decade Sandhill Cranes have increased in Michigan from 27 pairs in the 1940’s to over 800 nesting pairs in the 1980’s. Sandhill cranes are not big fish eaters, so they’re not in competition with fishermen or fish farmers. Sandhill cranes feed on frogs, fish and insects as well as fruit, aquatic plants and seeds. The Sandhill crane mates for life…how do people expect them to reproduce if one partner is shot…again terrible idea having a season on them. Sandhill cranes are one of more than 750 nongame species in Indiana. There are enough sandhill cranes in their eastern population to support a hunt … A fossil from the Miocene Epoch, some ten million years ago, was found to be structurally the same as the modern sandhill crane. Cranes uproot young shoots of corn in the spring and eat the kernels, and also eat winter wheat seeds. A sandhill crane season is a terrible idea in Michigan..they will be on the endangered list again because people will over hunt them especially farmers. While their main diet consists of grains, the cranes eat both invertebrates and vertebrates for protein and fat reserves. A beautiful yard and garden plus multiple bird feeders and bird … Some of these areas are close to lakes and marshes, but in Michigan, that’s just about everywhere. LANSING, MI -- Opening up Sandhill Cranes to a hunting season would give Michigan hunters a chance to eat the "ribeye of the sky," says Rep. James Lower, R-Cedar Lake. Feds: If Michigan asks us for sandhill crane hunt, we'll grant it. Attracting cranes to urban areas increases the threat of predation (especially to young cranes) by dogs or cats. The large bill of this species is well-suited to an omnivorous diet - insects, reptile and amphibians, nestling birds, small mammals, seeds of various plants, and berries. Sandhill cranes can be identified in flight by the way the hold their neck (straight out) and the way they beat their wings.