JACKSON, MI -- Hosts are common in restaurants, but eateries and a gas station on O'Neill Drive share a special set of greeters: sandhill cranes.

“They stand right at our door,” said Kyle Burton, a crew chief at Culver’s, about the couple who, most summers, have several babies with them.

And if they aren’t at the entrance to the restaurant, Tamika Perdue, a crew member, said they are often standing among the vehicles in the drive-through line.

“I can hear them through the microphone when people are giving their orders,” Perdue said.

Veronica Harris, assistant manager at the BP gas station at the corner of O'Neill and Airport roads, buys big bags of tortilla chips to feed them. Harris calls the male Grumps – because he pecks at the service station door when he wants food – and the female she has named Lady.

“They have me trained,” Harris laughed as she described feeding them. “If it is a good day, I can just feed them out of my hand.”

Customers there and at nearly every other business along the Blackman Township road ask common questions about the cranes.

“What are they, what do they eat and are they friendly,” Harris recited because she has been asked so often. Harris said they nest in a swampy area just west of Sams Club and are at the BP station nearly every day.

Mickey Kress of Jackson, a volunteer at the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary in Waterloo Township, said sandhill cranes “hang out where they find food and are protected from their predators. I don’t imagine you see foxes or coyotes in one of those restaurant parking lots.”

He said he has heard of cranes practically attacking people in parks because they are looking for food. “If they were to peck you, it would hurt,” he said. “Just look at their bills.”

There are about 20,000 sandhill cranes in Michigan, according to the Haehnle website, haehnlesanctuary.org. Michigan cranes migrate to Florida in November or December and return in late February or early March. They fly up to 50 mph and can cover nearly 500 miles a day at altitudes of a mile.

Sandhill cranes, which look like prehistoric creatures, are also startling because of their size: They stand 4-feet tall – making them the tallest bird in Michigan – and have a wing span of 6 feet. Males weigh about 12 pounds, females about 9 pounds.

At Olive Garden, Sarah Cox knows they are big. A hostess at Olive Garden, she pulled out her smart phone to show the photos she has taken of the pair.

“They are definitely loud,” she said. “They walk around the parking lot and on the sidewalk and sometimes will peck on the window and scare customers if they aren’t looking.”

But another host, Lauren Pageau, said some people eat at the Olive Garden as much for the food as to see the sandhill cranes. Customers take lots of photos and often feed them breadsticks.

It isn’t at all unusual for customers at Cracker Barrel to come into the restaurant and, in an excited tone, say to the hostess, “Do you know you have big birds outside the door?”

Becca Mason, a cashier, said she hears this all through the day but never tires of explaining what they are.

Shelvie Gerry, retail merchandise manager, said, “They are like our pets. Many of our customers have taken their picture, and even though the birds come right up to our door, they have never tried to come inside.”