Northwest Airlines, for example, currently requires a note from a physician if a woman seeks to fly within one month of the due date. At the time Heilman flew, 34 weeks was the cutoff. Her daughter Katie, now 4, was delivered 400 miles from home by Caesarean section.
1 This may happen because the birds use their beak to probe for food in muddy wetland soil.  Most sandhill cranes live in freshwater wetlands, feeding on plants, grains, mice, snakes, insects, and worms. Sandhill cranes usually nest in wetlands and create a structure from whatever plants may be at hand. Females typically lay two eggs, which both parents incubate.
Regional Differences. Sandhill Cranes are similar in plumage across their range, but they vary in size. âLesserâ Sandhill Cranes breed in the Arctic and are the smallest; the largest form (âGreaterâ Sandhill Crane) breeds in the northern U.S. The nonmigratory âFloridaâ Sandhill Crane and a form that breeds in central Canada are intermediate in size. Species in This Family Cranes (Order: Gruiformes, Family: Gruidae)