[QUOTE=villages07;801213]Gracie...they are there every evening. That is where they return to roost/nest after a day of exploring the Villages. It is quite a sight.

I have seen them many times - and am continuously fascinated by this. Are they Ibis?

Leave the wildlife alone!! Why do people want to attract them into dependency on human feedings? And here is just one example from Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, about cranes, which is ILLEGAL to attract/feed them at homes:

Sandhill cranes are cherished members of the Florida ecosystem. They stand almost 4 feet tall and their bugling or rattling calls are haunting and beautiful. Sandhill cranes occur in pastures, open prairies and freshwater wetlands in peninsular Florida from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp.

Florida sandhill cranes are present in many urban areas and some unlikely places such as golf courses, airports and suburban subdivisions. This is probably due in part to the rapid development of their native habitat by humans. Cranes are probably attracted by the open setting (mowed grass) and availability of some foods (acorns, earthworms, mole crickets, turf grubs).
People inadvertently put them in harms way when they attract these birds to their yards with feed. Some "feeding" is accidental such as when bird seed is spilled from feeders by other animals onto the ground below making a nice feeding station for cranes. But, some people deliberately feed sandhill cranes. In 2002, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made it illegal to feed sandhill cranes (Florida Fish and Wildlife Code 68A-4.00(3)).

Why is feeding cranes prohibited?

Cranes fed by humans can become aggressive toward people. In several instances, children have been attacked by cranes. Cranes fed by humans also have been known to damage window screens and do other property damage.

Living with Sandhill Cranes

I have 2 bird feeders but I do not put mixed feed in my feeders as that is the feed that attracts black birds and all types of birds. I only use safflower seed and it is expensive and difficult to find but the only birds that will eat it are cardinals and morning doves but since morning doves are ground eaters they clean up anything that has dropped. All other species find the seed bitter so once in awhile you may see another specie but they will not stay around. I would love all types of birds but I don't want the black birds so I have many, many cardinals daily...babies and all...I love them.

Noisy birds
 

While it's great to feed the birds, please be mindful that you may attract a lot of them. A lot of birds equals a lot of chirping, squawking, fighting and poop! Our neighbors put in two feeders which were kinda like in our back yard year our bedroom window. The birds frequented the feeder at all hours of the night. They would fight and squawk so loudly it kept us up much of the night. It usually started about 12:30 AM and continued for much of the day. We had to ask our neighbors to take down their feeders so we could sleep. They weren't so receptive and ended our friendship. That's another story!

It is a bird sanctuary, last year the water table was so low the birds did not use it because of the predators, this year plenty of water and once again plenty of birds, lovely.

I stopped feeding birds when a huge hawk came and ate the birds, particularly the mourning doves who are slow and ground feeders.

We have a neighbor who feeds ducks. Driving past their house you will see dozens of ducks sitting on the roof tops of their neighbors homes. I believe the reason for the feeder is entertainment for their cat who sits inside the house watching the birds and ducks. The hawk loves the buffet.

Never, ever feed the cranes of gators.

Yep, say it also!

Yep, saw it also!

I put out feeders
 

also a bird bath and a suet feeder (which the mockingbirds like). Just got back last night, refilled the feeders (which hang from branches of our oak tree, so there is cover from the hawks, along with several nearby vines and shrubs.

Filled them this morning and have been sitting out on the lanai looking at cardinals, a blue jay, pine warblers, mockingbirds and mourning doves (which clean up underneath). We don't have any squirrels (yet) in our 7 yr old villa neighborhood, and it took a few years for the birds to come after construction, but we just enjoy looking at them. I think because it's a small walled yard, maybe we don't get the cranes - they fly overhead, but never stop.

They are never here at night, start just before dawn, but there are not hoards of them. Seems every year we see a new species - last year it was brown thrashers, this year the blue jays. Once we saw a bluebird on the wall, and we will see a hawk occasionally. We have all kinds of natural feeders too - coral honeysuckle for one, but have only seen a hummingbird once - on our purple castor bean vine.

Ohiogirl, the doves come at sunset to take a bath in our fountain and our cats love to watch them from inside the screened porch.