Plate River Sandhill Cranes

The harbinger of spring that I look forward to each year in Montana is the arrival of tens of thousands of snow geese that stop over at Freezout Lake for several weeks in late March and early April. Some years, upwards of a quarter million of them can be viewed on the ponds and in the surrounding grain fields. It is a great spectacle that is attended by more and more people each year. This year, Kathy and I decided to try a different spectacle - the sandhill cranes that stop along the Platte River in Nebraska during their migration north each March. It was a great decision on our part.

The Platte River originates in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming and flows through the grasslands and farmlands of southern Nebraska, where it slows down and forms many islands and sandbars. These features along with adjacent fields mostly of corn provide ideal conditions for night-time security and daytime feeding for sandhill cranes. LOTS of cranes! Estimates are that during the peak of migration, upwards of a half million cranes can be found along the 60-70 mile section of the Platte from North Platte to Grand Island.

A late departure from Helena placed us in Buffalo, WY the first evening of our journey. With more than 600 miles to go to our destination, we departed early the next morning. By the time we reached North Platte, driving along the Interstate Highway, flocks of cranes could be seen in most all of the corn fields on either side of the highway. As we neared our destination of Kearney, Nebraska, late in the afternoon, I phoned Steve, my local contact, to discuss what we should do that evening. Steve was a very accommodating host and insisted that he meet me on the the river for an evening of crane watching. So instead of checking into our motel, we met Steve at a local truck stop and after exchanging introductions and pleasantries, he lead me through beautiful Platte River bottom-lands to the river. We were a little early for the cranes to begin arriving for their evening roost, but the weather was pleasant and the skies partly cloudy. It was a fortuitous decision to visit the river that evening because the weather would go down hill the next several days.

As the cranes began approaching the river, the setting sun reflected off of them as a gold-tinged glow. Remember, you can click on the image to enlarge it, and then click you back button to return to the blog. And then as the sun began to set, it was a gorgeous sight, with thousands of cranes settling in on islands just down river from us. It was not easy to come up with an estimate of numbers but there were likely tens-of-thousands by the time we parted the river.I was up early the next morning so that I could approach the river in darkness so as to not disturb any cranes that might have settled on islands closest to the shoreline. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy and visibility was poor. About 100 yards from the river bank, I got on my hands and knees in the willows and worked my way toward the river where cranes were boisterously welcoming the first hint of dawn. Despite my efforts at caution, cranes on the island closest to shore detected my presence and flushed to join the other hoards a little farther from shore. But thousands remained within 150 yards or so. I chose a comfortable spot along the riverbank with some shrub cover for concealment and waited for more light to illuminate the river and birds. As darkness began to recede, the sight and sounds of thousands of sandhill cranes roosting on the islands before me was fantastic. Freezout snow geese, your spectacle has been matched and - in my mind - surpassed.
One aspect of this Platte River crane spectacle is that, unlike some other birding excursions, there is not much "down time". After the morning departure show, cranes can be found in the myriad cornfields along 60+ miles of river area. Besides just being able to watch thousands of birds as they feed, you can occasionally get lucky -as we were - and find some cranes involved in their unique courting rituals. These rituals involve various forms of bowing, jumping in the air, wing flapping, and picking up pieces of vegetation and throwing them in the air. Very entertaining viewing!!

The last evening we were there, Kathy and Steve's wife Leisa joined us on the river. That evening, in spite of some rain and snow showers, the crane show was even more spectacular than the night before. My estimate for the evening was 40,000+ cranes settling on islands not far down river from where we were sitting. The next morning, we awoke to several inches of snow on the ground so my crane viewing exploits were over for this trip. Click on the video clip below. Please excuse the poor quality.

The Platte River Crane show really may be one of the great spectacles of nature in the world! If you get the opportunity to witness it, you will have no regrets!