States
North CarolinaTennesseeGeorgiaSouth CarolinaKentuckyAlabamaArkansasFloridaLouisianaMississippiVirginiaWest Virginia
Menu

Bird

Sandhill Crane

Grus canadensis

Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in 52 of 67 counties, across 15 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
52 of 67 counties
Habitats
15

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
52 of 67 counties
Habitats
15
Habitat models
Year-round

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Florida 15

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 15

Coastal dunes and beaches

White Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola
Year-roundUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal WetlandGeorge Catlin, White Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola (1834-35): high white dunes with scattered clumps of dune plants above the Gulf. Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, FloridaWhite Sand Bluffs, on Santa Rosa Island, Near Pensacola, George Catlin (1796-1872), 1834-1835. Public domain. Source record.

Freshwater marshes

The Great Florida Marsh
Year-roundSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier; Floridian Highlands Freshwater MarshMartin Johnson Heade, The Great Florida Marsh (1886): open marsh and lily-dotted water beneath live oaks and cabbage palms. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Heade, The Great Florida Marsh, 1886; North Carolina Museum of Art)The Great Florida Marsh, Martin Johnson Heade, 1886. Public domain. Source record.

Pine savannas

Beautiful Savannah in the Pine Woods of Florida
Year-roundEast Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and FlatwoodsGeorge Catlin, Beautiful Savannah in the Pine Woods of Florida (1834-35): an open grassy savanna with a shallow pond, ringed by tall pines, with palmettos and red wildflowers. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Pine woods of Florida (George Catlin, 1834-35; Smithsonian American Art Museum)Beautiful Savannah in the Pine Woods of Florida, George Catlin, 1834-1835. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

Year-roundSouthern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

Year-roundCentral Florida Herbaceous Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Year-round

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

Year-roundFlorida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Coastal Plain hammocks

In the Jungle, Florida
Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Southern Coastal Plain Hydric HammockWinslow Homer, In the Jungle, Florida (1904): cabbage palms, saw palmetto and fallen trunks in a dense, shady hammock, with a wildcat in the branches. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Winslow Homer, In the Jungle, Florida, 1904)In the Jungle, Florida, Winslow Homer, 1904. Public domain. Source record.

Pine flatwoods

Georgia Pines
Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and FlatwoodsGeorge Inness, Georgia Pines (1890): tall, straight pines over an open, grassy floor in a south Georgia pine woods. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Georgia pine woods (George Inness, 1890; site not named), a neighboring state.Georgia Pines, George Inness (1825-1894), 1890. Public domain. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Florida Sunrisetitle QS:P1476,en:"Florida Sunrise"label QS:Len,"Florida Sunrise"
Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Open Water (Fresh)Martin Johnson Heade, Florida Sunrise: still water and a palm-fringed shore glowing at dawn. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Florida (Heade, Florida Sunrise, c. 1890-1900)Florida Sunrisetitle QS:P1476,en:"Florida Sunrise"label QS:Len,"Florida Sunrise", Martin Johnson Heade, c. 1890-1900. Public domain. Source record.

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

Fort George Island, Florida
Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Open Water (Brackish/Salt)Thomas Moran, Fort George Island (1878): a tidal shore of wet sand and shallow water at the river mouth, with cabbage palms and a beached ship. Fort George Island, Florida (Thomas Moran, 1878; Smithsonian American Art Museum)Fort George Island, Florida, Thomas Moran, 1878. Public domain. Source record.

Swamps

Florida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha
Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier; Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; South Florida Bayhead Swamp; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress DomeFlorida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha (1899): a dark swamp-lined river at sunset, with cypress and hardwoods crowding both banks. Ocklawaha River, FloridaFlorida, Sunset on the Ocklawaha, Detroit Photographic Co. (chromolithograph), 1899. Public domain. Source record.

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Prairies and grasslands

Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.

Year-roundOnly within 1,000 m of water.Florida Dry Prairie

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

Year-roundOnly within 1,000 m of water.Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay
Other habitats in its models (11)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida. Those recorded in Florida first, the rest by region.

In Florida 4

  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Year-round.
  • South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Year-round.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (7)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Year-round.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Year-round.

All habitats

Seasons in Florida

  • Year-round: nests here, in 52 of 67 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 150

Plant genera in its diet records (20)
  • Triticum Seeds and leaves. 11 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Zea Seeds. 11 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Cyperus Roots. 10 diet records. 37 native plants in Florida
  • Sorghum Seeds. 10 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Quercus Fruit. 6 diet records. 43 native plants in Florida
  • Medicago Leaves. 4 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Hordeum Seeds. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Alophia 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Callisia 2 diet records. 4 native plants in Florida
  • Eleocharis Seeds. 2 diet records. 29 native plants in Florida
  • Equisetum 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Florida
  • Lupinus Seeds. 2 diet records. 5 native plants in Florida
  • Nymphaea 2 diet records. 6 native plants in Florida
  • Oryza Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Oxalis 2 diet records. 3 native plants in Florida
  • Phleum Roots. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Florida
  • Sagittaria 2 diet records. 12 native plants in Florida
  • Sparganium Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Florida
  • Linum 1 diet record. 9 native plants in Florida
  • Melilotus Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Florida

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Florida, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Sandhill Crane uses many habitats in Florida; these are its 3 most characteristic.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Birds 128

Plants 187

All of coastal dunes and beaches in Florida

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 117

Plants 1524

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in Florida

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Birds 150

Plants 58

All of disturbed and introduced wetlands in Florida

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources