Welcome, Once Again ...

Welcome once again to the Manor Place Village PostScript!  As I mentioned last month the information posted in this publication is designed and intended to supplement our newsletter, The Messenger, that is published and distributed monthly between October-May. I hope that readers of the PostScript will find it informative and interesting.  Please feel free to make suggestions, forward your ideas and topics that could appeal to our community. I will research your ideas and topics of interest.  Tell me what you would like to see in the Newsletter/PostScript.  And, the goal is for our residents to enjoy the postings!   Most of all let's continue to make Manor Place Village a beautiful place to live!  ~ Gayle 😊

Sandhill Cranes

Aren't we fortunate to have these beautiful birds as our neighbours! 

Yes they are noisy and they do dig up lawns and greens, but they also provide us with opportunites to view them up close.  Not all birds let us get so personal!

According to Southwest Florida Water Management District Florida sandhill cranes are long-legged, long-necked, gray, heron-like birds with a patch of bald, red skin on top of their heads. Sandhill cranes fly with their necks outstretched with powerful, rhythmic wing beats. Florida's sandhill cranes are a threatened species that are found in inland shallow freshwater marshes, prairies, pastures and farmlands. Sometimes they can be seen on lawns throughout Florida. They are sensitive birds that do not adjust well to changed environments and high human populations. Sandhill cranes are usually seen in small family groups or pairs. However, during the winter, Florida's sandhill crane population increases as cranes from northern states spend the winter in Florida. Sandhill cranes are omnivorous, meaning they eat  variety of plant and animal matter. Some of their favorite meal items include seeds, plant tubers, grains, berries, insects, earthworms, mice, snakes, lizards, frogs and crayfish. Unlike other wading birds, such as herons, sandhill cranes do not "fish." The voice of the sandhill crane is one of the most distinctive bird sounds in Florida. This "call of the wild" has been described as a bugling or trumpeting sound, and can be heard for several miles. Florida sandhill cranes stay with the same mate for several years and young sandhills stay with their parents until they are about 10 months old. Like their endangered relatives the whooping cranes, sandhills live to be older than most birds. In fact, some sandhill cranes live up to 20 years.

And, Florida Fish and Wildlife has this information posted on their website - myfwc.com

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. This behavior is 
probably a response of the birds to seeing their reflection, bringing out a 
territorial defense behavior (scratching at windows or shiny automobiles). 
Cranes also are more likely to tangle in human garbage in areas populated by 
people. Cranes are more likely to crash into power lines in urban areas where 
such aerial hazards are concentrated. Cranes attracted to people's yards 
for feed are put at risk as they walk across roads. Many sandhill cranes 
are killed each year on Florida roads. Attracting cranes to urban areas 
increases the threat of predation (especially to young cranes) by dogs 
or cats. Further, the cranes' diets, which normally are quite diverse, are 
disrupted when they eat one food item (such as corn), consistently. 
Heavy pesticide use in urban lawns also is of concern. Young sandhill cranes 
have died from pesticide poisoning.

Conclusion
It's never a good idea to feed wildlife. People inadvertently put cranes in harms 
way when they attract these birds to their yards with feed. Florida sandhill cranes 
have an abundance of natural foods (insects and small animals) and they do not 
need handouts from humans. There are many reasons why cranes should not 
be intentionally fed by humans. For the good of the cranes, please do 
not feed them.

Four things you can do to better coexist in "Crane Country"

• Never feed cranes and encourage your neighbors not to feed cranes. Cranes 
• are less likely to inhabit urban areas if easy meals are not provided.
• Cover or move automobiles so that cranes cannot see their reflections in the 
• shiny surfaces. Windows or glass doors that the cranes attack can be 
• temporarily covered with material so that the birds do not see their reflections.
• Temporarily cover windows or screens. A string mounted on stakes about 
• 2.5 feet off the ground will provide an exclusion "fence" around the parts of 
• homes (window or pool screens) that are being damaged by cranes.
• Accept some digging for food. Cranes sometimes damage lawns and gardens 
• as they dig for food such as mole crickets and beetle grubs. The birds, in this 
• case, provide natural "biological control" of these common pests of turf.

Healthy Benefits of walking!

According to the Arthritis Foundation walking has many benefits.

What’s not to like about walking? It’s free. It’s easy to do, and it’s easy on the joints. And there’s no question that walking is good for you. Walking is an aerobic exercise; a University of Tennessee study found that women who walked had less body fat than those who didn’t walk. It also lowers the risk of blood clots, since the calf acts as a venous pump, contracting and pumping blood from the feet and legs back to the heart, reducing the load on the heart. Walking is good for you in other ways as well.

1. Walking improves circulation. It also wards off heart disease, brings up the heart rate, lowers blood pressure and strengthens the heart. Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Tennessee found that post-menopausal women who walked just one to two miles a day lowered blood pressure by nearly 11 points in 24 weeks. Women who walked 30 minutes a day reduced their risk of stroke by 20 percent – by 40 percent when they stepped up the pace, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

2. Walking shores up your bones. It can stop the loss of bone mass for those with osteoporosis, according to Michael A. Schwartz, MD, of Plancher Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in New York. In fact, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, study of post-menopausal women found that 30 minutes of walking each day reduced their risk of hip fractures by 40 percent.

3. Walking leads to a longer life. Research out of the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System says those who exercise regularly in their fifties and sixties are 35 percent less likely to die over the next eight years than their non-walking counterparts. That number shoots up to 45 percent less likely for those who have underlying health conditions.

4. Walking lightens mood. A California State University, Long Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were. Why? Walking releases natural pain­killing endorphins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise.

5. Walking can lead to weight loss. A brisk 30-minute walk burns 200 calories. Over time, calories burned can lead to pounds dropped.

6. Walking strengthens muscles. It tones your leg and abdominal muscles – and even arm muscles if you pump them as you walk. This increases your range of motion, shifting the pressure and weight from your joints and muscles – which are meant to handle weight – helping to lessen arthritis pain

7. Walking improves sleep. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that women, ages 50 to 75, who took one-hour morning walks, were more likely to relieve insomnia than women who didn’t walk.

8. Walking supports your joints. The majority of joint cartilage has no direct blood supply. It gets its nutrition from synovial or joint fluid that circulates as we move. Impact that comes from movement or compression, such as walking, “squishes” the cartilage, bringing oxygen and nutrients into the area. If you don’t walk, joints are deprived of life-giving fluid, which can speed deterioration.

9. Walking improves your breath. When walking, your breathing rate increases, causing oxygen to travel faster through bloodstream, helping to eliminate waste products and improve your energy level and the ability to heal.

10. Walking slows mental decline. A study of 6,000 women, ages 65 and older, performed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that age-related memory decline was lower in those who walked more. The women walking 2.5 miles per day had a 17-percent decline in memory, as opposed to a 25-percent decline in women who walked less than a half-mile per week.

11. Walking lowers Alzheimer’s risk. A study from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville found that men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who walked less.

12. Walking helps you do more, longer. Aerobic walking and resistance exercise programs may reduce the incidence of disability in the activities of daily living of people who are older than 65 and have symptomatic OA, shows a study published in the Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management.

Annual Rainfall - Spring Hill, Florida

With an average annual rainfall of 53.58 inches, the state of Florida gets 14.4 more inches of rain than the national average (39.17 inches)

Spring Hill has had an average rainfall of 52.8 inches over the last 30 years, which is 35% more than the average nationwide, and about average in Florida.

According to Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFMD), Hernando County has received 6.68 inches of rainfall from October 2016 - February 2017.  It's little wonder that dryness prevails.  Our lakes are suffering as a result of less precipitation during the past 6 months.