The Lonely Sandhill Crane

Meet Niles, the flightless Sandhill Crane that lives at Okeeheelee Nature Center. My roommate works for Okeeheelee so she gave me a little behind the scenes tour of the deer enclosure where Niles lives. Here's a set of photos I took of Niles preening.

Sometimes a wild flock of Sandhill Cranes will join him. But mostly he keeps to himself. Okeeheelee is a Palm Beach County nature center like mine and if you want to see Niles yourself you can hike the trails there and go to the wildlife overlook area. He should be around and if not you can always see the wild flock near the feeders at the entrance to the nature center. Don't forget that if you visit Okeeheelee this time of year to check the feeder behind the nature center to glimpse the Painted Buntings and Indigo Buntings that winter there each year.