A waiting game

In early February after spending hours and days constructing the nest the female laid two eggs and began to incubate them Both the female and the male Lay on the eggs in order to control the environment in which the eggs are nestled. So the temperature, the level of the humidity , and also the oxygen that surrounds the eggs are all controlled by the adults sitting on eggs. The nest construction is extremely important . The eggs need to be incubated at 99 degrees and the body temperature of the Sandhill is 106 degrees. So the problem is what lies between the body heat of the bird and the eggs that need warming and the earth. Transferring the heat through layers of feathers is a challenge so the Sandhill , to overcome this will shed feathers on the belly thus allowing the direct skin to egg contact. This allows efficient transfer of body heat from the adult to the egg. This pair takes turns incubating and the incubation period last 28-30 days. 24 hours a day 7 days a week for a month one of the Cranes has to be on the nest .. The amount of inactivity could bring challenges of its own to humans but to the Sandhills they sit in the pounding rain the wind and all of the environmental challenges and sit on those eggs. The next few days these eggs will hatch and we will have little ones running around. One egg will hatch a day as they lay an Egg a day and hatch an egg in the same amount of time. Exciting days ahead.. I hope you enjoy this post and are learning something about the wildlife that William and Love so much.. Florida Sandhills are on the Threatened species list and we all need to be on alert during this time of year as the babies are out foraging on the side of roads and in pastures and fields everywhere. Because of all the building here they are forced to be places they should not be and get killed by cars.