2018 SANDHILL CRANE MIGRATION

Soggy Moose Cranes 2018

SANDHILL CRANE MIGRATION

First, you’ll hear it before you see it.

The ancient call of a single crane can trumpet out for miles. And when they all cry out at once the sound multiplies by tens or hundreds of thousands.

Each spring, around half a million Sandhill Cranes descend upon a small stretch of the Platte River in Nebraska on their way north to Canada, Alaska and Siberia, from their winter homes in Mexico and the Southwest. Starting around mid  February through the first half of April, they rest here to prepare for nesting up north.

The Sandhill Crane migration has been an event we have wanted to see for a few years. As we have traveled across I-80 and noticed the billboards around Kearney, Nebraska highlighting the Crane Festival. 

We plan this trip around weather and this week looked good, so we packed up and hit the road. We arrived at Ft. Kearney State Recreation area and set up camp in the same space as last year.  

We purchased an annual vehicle pass. Camping with electricity is $20 a night, as the shower rooms are up and running, and maybe due to the Crane Festival. There were only a few campers in our area. Because it is Crane Festival Week there are a few more folks this year. On that note, there were lots more folks out on the bridge for morning and evening viewing. I really enjoyed having less folks during the week after the festival.  Yes there will still be lots of cranes to view. 

Greater Yellowlegs

HOW KEWL A WHOOPING CRANE!!!!

Final note on this trip, One should experience this at sometime, as it is well worth the effort to see this migration. Yes, even the non birder would enjoy. One should plan on an early morning to see the mass ascension, seeing them feed during the day in the corn fields, and in the evening as they return to roost in the river.  

OH!!!!, last day we saw one of the Whooping Cranes, we had been told there was one in the area this year.