A Special Guest Among Thousands of Sandhill Cranes~

~It's time to take charge once again and I think it will all work out~

My blog began as a Blogger blog, but we needed more support and Google came in and asked that we switch, but I was reluctant to do so.  Other bloggers explained it to me and so I did switch over and it worked beautifully until last year when so many comments could not be found. As of December ending Google had announced that they are no longer going to support our blogs and in fact will be deleting all Google+ comments by February 4. On Google+ alone I house 9,352 comments and those are mine, they are my gifts from over 400 of you cherished friends and followers from Blogger and over 725 on Google+ and yet they are going to DELETE all of them by April 2. The Notice says: 

Your personal Google+ account is going away on April 2, 2019!

All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019!

My blog has such great meaning to me and causes me such joy and this is something that was mentioned in a December notification that never made it into my Gmail notifications. Google showed the Email address as pending, though it is the same email address attached to my blog since it's inception. 

I was very wary to switch back from Google+ profile to Blogger profile because there are so many questions with different answers out there and no real person to speak with.  I online chatted with a Google specialist for over 45 minutes last week and at the end he said, he was very sorry, but he had no solutions.

When I saw that all of the 9,352 comments had already been deleted from my blog on Google+, words cannot adequately describe the feeling I felt simply devastated! 

Then one day I was thinking wait a minute... I have kept every single one of my blogs notifications via Gmail and every one of those Emails holds each comment. Every single one of them ;) ! Gmail is not being affected by the deletion of the Google+ and so I still have all of my comments from the Google+ just no longer seen under each post published.  

Yesterday I did switch back to my original Blogger profile and held my breath and clicked on SAVE and then took a few deep breaths before viewing my blog.  All is just well!    

Currently I have 726 wonderful people who follow my blog via Google+ and another 236 who have followed me on Blogger.  When Google+ shuts down April 2, I will lose 490 of my friends across the country and around the world.  I hope that some of you who are using Google+ will try and stay in touch.  I appreciate everyone of you all so very much~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after    you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:

Saturday's Critter

http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin' 

   

Angie at:  

Mosaic Monday

https://tentoesinthewater.blogspot.com/

 Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global 

   http://communalglobal.blogspot.ca/

& 

Stewart for:

Wild Bird Wednesday

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

I got a call back from the INTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION and have learned a great deal about the Whooping Crane that I reported to them last Tuesday. 

The male bird is going to be 7 this Summer and his parents were born in the wild, but his egg was taken from the nest by the "Forced Re-nesting Program" and then raised in captivity by costumed handlers. One of the reasons this is done is because of a terrible little insect called Blackfly and they hatch about the time the young Whooping Cranes are hatching out, and they try and take eggs from the first nesting of the season so that the young birds are not plagued by these insects. The second nesting clutch no eggs are usually taken. This chick was given a name after his hatch of Fire Weed and then he became #1612 as part of the Whooping Crane Ultralight-assisted Migration program and went all the way to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Florida from where it was born at the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin his first year. He has had another male Crane that has been his buddy and they usually travel together, but this year his buddy met up with a female and now they are together as a pair. #1612 tends to be a loner and there is a single female nearby and the team at the foundation are hoping that the two will pair up. There are also two females that hang together and they lay eggs, but they are not fertile. It was absolutely fascinating to learn about this remarkable bird that I was blessed to come upon last week~ <3 span="">

Some of the some thirty thousand Sandhill Cranes observed from the warmth of my car for over an hour Saturday and then this grand finale happened. I was an audience of one the entire time and I was in awe. This was when the birds gave me their grand finale. Yes...I wept tears of joy, God had truly blessed me. Be sure to turn up your volume~

                   https://www.facebook.com/MaryHowellCromer/videos/10216321645226790/

I love this image!  The Crane was tossing and kicking corn shucks up into the air as part of his elaborate dance to show off~

Hey Down, Ho Down ;) kicking up their heels~

These are a few more both above and below that out of over 1,000 images taken hit an easy top of the list for favorites~

Some pretty little bird mosaics to brighten up your day~

Female American Cardinal~

Male American Cardinal~

Fox Sparrow~

Chickadee~

Red-breasted Nuthatch~

White-throated Sparrow~

American Goldfinch~

Female Brown-headed Cowbird~

Tufted Titmouse~