The Sandhill Crane is a common site around Lakewood Ranch.  Riding our bikes through the parks and neighborhoods near our home nearly always results in more than a few sightings of the big, gangling birds with their bright red heads and grey feathers.

They are so common in these parts, that they are often hard to avoid.  They wander across roads and through parking lots, seemingly oblivious to the cars and trucks speeding by them only inches away.    Golf courses are a favorite place for them to gather, and golfers need to play through large families of birds blocking greens and fairways.

According to Sarasota-based Save Our Seabirds, a conservation and  rescue organization dedicated to the cranes and other Southwest Florida waterbirds,  East County was Sandhill Crane territory long before Lakewood Ranch was sketched out in a developer’s drawing pad. In the 1980s, crane fossils estimated to be 2.5 million years old were unearthed in the Macasphalt Shell Pit, just east of Sarasota.  “They’re not invading our territory, we’re invading their territory.”

Many people seem to find the birds irresistible.  Wildlife photographers take their photos and devote entire web sites to the birds and their antics.  People who love the Sandhill Cranes call themselves “Craniacs”.    Lakewood Ranch is home to enough craniacs, that in 2014 the town declared the Sandhill Crane as the official Lakewood Ranch mascot.

I guess I should also be counted as an official craniac as this point.  I never seem to tire of spotting these birds and pointing them out to my riding companions when we pass them by.  My photo collection is replete with hundreds of crane photos I have taken while on rides through the local neighborhoods.

On one of my very first rides here in Lakewood Ranch, back in the Spring, I rode past an amazing sculpture of a Sandhill Crane carved out of a tree truck.  The sculpture is in the yard of a home that I pass  often.  It’s on a stretch of road that is a very popular cycling segment here.  If you cycle regularly in Lakewood Ranch, you have undoubtedly passed it yourself.

I have admired this piece since the first time I saw it.  It is masterfully carved, and, for me, captures the essence of these strange birds in a whimsical and entertaining way.  I look forward to seeing it each time I ride past.  I wish I knew more about it.  Do any readers know anything about the artist or the history of this work?  If so, please leave a comment and let us know.  I’d really like to learn how this sculpture came to be here.

Now it’s December, and I have probably passed this sculpture a hundred times or more since the Spring.  Today as I rode past I noticed that the owners of the house had decorated my favorite bird sculpture for the holidays!

So here, without further adieu, I present, Christmas in Sandhill Country!

The Recumbent Gourmet will be heading out next week to Key West.    Stay tuned to hear all the details of our Key West Tour and learn how it turns out!