An Early Morning Wake-Up Call and A Ride Around the Property - Lake Placid, FL

 Actually, I was already up and had taken Kasey outside, when I heard the strangest noise coming from the back of the house.  Here's what we found as we walked around the house, sandhill cranes.  These two seem to have adopted the place and think the yard belongs to them.  They were not aggressive, and Kasey really didn't seem to be bothered by them.  At least, he didn't chase them.  The cranes make a loud honking sound and they do it at the same time.  I'll try to get a short video tomorrow to post so you can hear them.  They hung around for awhile, and pooped on the back patio, but we didn't see them the rest of the day.  Sandhill cranes mate for life, so I assume this is a male and female.  

 We decided to take an earlier morning drive around the property to see if we could see any more wildlife; and, last night while riding around with Renee, one of the managers, we didn't see the seven horses that are free to roam the property.  She said that's not unusual, but we wanted to see if we could find them this morning.  No such luck!!  There are several  large stands of scrub palms and trees, so they must have been hiding in one of them.  We'll check on them again tomorrow.  But we did see the two draft horses, Annie and Mae, who hang out together.  They don't join the other horses, but they love treats, so need to remember to take carrots tomorrow.  Will post a picture of them later.  There are also two horses who stay up toward the front of the property and especially around the house, in addition to the three in the corral by the house.  The ones in the corral are being treated for various ailments, and the other two are a couple of loners who have teamed up together, but don't join the regular herd.

 

Itchey is on the left; Mama, who is due to foal in about a month, is looking over the fence, and Turbo is in the middle.  They are all very friendly, but not aggressive.  Kasey just ignores them, and they don't bother him.  At least he doesn't try to herd them.

The BIG thrill of the day was the wild hog we saw.  Renee thinks there are 2 or 3 of them, but we only saw one today.  They stay at the back of the property which is about 3 miles from where we are parked.

 

I had no idea they were that big.  And we were probably 300 feet away, and not planning on getting any closer!!!!  :)  He never even looked our way, but ambled off into some denser foliage. 

 Not sure what kind of a bird this is, but he's the last of the wildlife for today.  Need to dig out the bird books.

Also saw a large turtle at the edge of one of the ponds, but he slipped into the water before I could get his picture.

We had quite a bit of wind and rain this evening, but it's just sprinkling now.  Glad the wind isn't blowing like it was earlier.  Looks like we're really going to enjoy our time here, even though it's out in the boonies.  Hope to get some good sunrise pictures tomorrow.  

More later.......