Near us is Payne’s Prairie , a 21,000 acre savanna park that has gators, bison, birds, snakes, wild ponies, and sandhill cranes. They can be seen all around the prairie and in the country club neighborhood not far away. I often see them when I go to a client’s home office in the country club. This particular crane, along with two others who were crossing the road, were spotted at a neighborhood near the prairie where I was delivering my grandson for a play date with friends before he moves away.

I usually see the cranes in the fall or spring and was a little surprised to catch these on such a hot day. The heat index at the time was 108 degrees.

How fascinating that they are your spirit animals! The sound they make when flying overhead is other worldly! So loud that it can be heard inside from high in the sky. How many times I’ve heard their travel calls in the spring and rushed from the house to observe them gracefully flying north.

In spite of their migration habits, we always have a few who stay through the hot summer, dining in the shade, surprising passers-by like me.