Hello Donald, I don't know if this will help you or not -- but if you could go to St. Augustine by way of the Hiwassee Refuge near Birchwood, TN you'd get some great views of thousands of sandhills. They stay around til about the end of March.

Thanks for the info, that would take us wayyy out of our way, but it's giving me an idea for a possible second trip sometime :)
I'd really like to find Sandhill cranes within a couple of hours from St Augustine.

There are quite a few in and around Salt Springs, in the Ocala National Forest, about an hour southwest of St. Augustine. They really like to hang out around the Salt Springs Village, an RV park.

I should have said a mobile home park, not RV. They are also just strolling about around Salt Springs, sometimes on the road.

Thanks for posting that joan, we'll definitely be taking a day trip out that way :), sure hope we get to see some, they are magnificent creatures

While on the plane, on my way to Florida this past January, I was reading an article on how 'scarce' the sandhill crane was. Well, you can imagine my amazement when I was driving in the Orlando area, doing the touristy things, but to see a sandhill wandering around on someone's lawn and another pair hanging out on the side of the road! So now I am sort of wondering about that article. :-)

There are plenty here in SE WI. This past weekend I saw several flocks heading north.

tj