Many of my favorite travel memories involve wildlife. A beautiful cathedral is going to look pretty much the same when you visit it in 2013 as it did when you visited it in 2003, or even when your grandparents visited it in 1953. Animals, however, being active living things, can show you something different every time you see them, which is what makes seeing them so special. And that is why the Platte River in Nebraska is a place I'd like to come back and visit many more times in my life.
The Platte River is a lot like a crane 7-Eleven.
National Geographic has called the sandhill crane migration one of the greatest wildlife phenomena in North America, and I couldn't agree more. Every spring, after spending the winter in warmer areas like Texas and New Mexico, sandhill cranes undertake a long migration north to Canada, where they will breed and raise their chicks. This is a long, exhausting journey to do all at once, so along the way they find a nice rest area to stop at so they can refuel, and Nebraska's Platte River is an ideal place for them. The river contains many small islands and sandbars, which make for a nice safe place to roost for the night, and the surrounding fields are full of insects and discarded grains to eat. The cranes stop here for a few weeks to rest and fatten up for the remainder of their long journey north.
The greatest concentration of cranes can be found in the 50-mile stretch of river between Grand Island and Kearney, Nebraska. Hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes descend on the area each year between the beginning of March and mid April. They also pass through the area during their fall southward migration, but they don't stay nearly as long in the fall as they do in the spring, so your best bet is visiting in the spring. I visited in mid March.
The greatest concentration of cranes can be found in the 50-mile stretch of river between Grand Island and Kearney, Nebraska. Hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes descend on the area each year between the beginning of March and mid April. They also pass through the area during their fall southward migration, but they don't stay nearly as long in the fall as they do in the spring, so your best bet is visiting in the spring. I visited in mid March.
How would you like to live RIGHT THERE?! Amazing.
I arrived in the area in the middle of the afternoon. Just west of Grand Island, I left the interstate and started driving around the little back roads, which are surrounded by dormant farm fields and the occasional small clump of houses. Less than ten minutes after leaving the highway, I was rewarded with my first crane sighting. There must have been at least a hundred cranes scattered around one particular field in front of a small housing development. I pulled over so I could take some pictures. The cranes weren't about to get too close to my car, but they weren't fleeing from my presence either. They were just casually walking around in the field searching the ground for something good to eat.
I spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the back roads looking for cranes, and finding quite a few groups. Groups seemed to range in size from around 20 or so to as many as 150 in one place. I had more luck finding them south of the river than I did on the north side, but I never had to drive too far to find another group of them wandering around a field. About an hour or two before sunset I made my way back to the river, which is where the real spectacle would begin.
I spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the back roads looking for cranes, and finding quite a few groups. Groups seemed to range in size from around 20 or so to as many as 150 in one place. I had more luck finding them south of the river than I did on the north side, but I never had to drive too far to find another group of them wandering around a field. About an hour or two before sunset I made my way back to the river, which is where the real spectacle would begin.
"Oh, hey Bob. Have you found any good insects in this field?"
moon over the Platte River
During the day, the cranes forage in the surrounding fields in small groups, but they all come back together on the river at night. So sunset and sunrise are the two times that you are able to see truly HUGE numbers of cranes in one place. Much of the river is surrounded by privately-owned land, but there are two places where you can gain access (for a small fee) to the river for crane viewing: the Nebraska Nature Visitor Center and the Rowe Sanctuary.
http://www.nebraskanature.org/crane_tours.html
http://rowe.audubon.org/crane-viewing-1
I chose to take the evening footbridge tour from the Nebraska Nature Visitor Center, which was well worth the $15 cost! They also offer viewing blind tours for only $25, which take you to a small concealed structure on the riverbank that gets you even closer to the cranes.
I left the Visitor Center before sunset with the other 20 or so people in the tour group. You have to arrive at the footbridge over the river before the cranes do so that they don't get spooked by the large group of people. We only had to wait on the bridge for about 30 minutes before it started to get dark and the first group of cranes arrived. They landed first in the field on one side of the river, but eventually a few of them flew over the brush on the riverbank to the sandbars in the middle of the river. Soon enough another group of cranes arrived, then another and another. Many of them landed in the field first before venturing into the river, but others went directly to the sandbars. Some groups even flew over our heads on the bridge before landing in the river. Eventually two of the sandbars were completely filled with cranes, who were enthusiastically squawking at each other. Their calls are a bit strange sounding. It's hard to describe, but I've included a handy video below so you can hear them too! The cranes in the video are only about a tenth of the cranes that ended up roosting here, but unfortunately the fading light made photography pretty much impossible after a while.
http://www.nebraskanature.org/crane_tours.html
http://rowe.audubon.org/crane-viewing-1
I chose to take the evening footbridge tour from the Nebraska Nature Visitor Center, which was well worth the $15 cost! They also offer viewing blind tours for only $25, which take you to a small concealed structure on the riverbank that gets you even closer to the cranes.
I left the Visitor Center before sunset with the other 20 or so people in the tour group. You have to arrive at the footbridge over the river before the cranes do so that they don't get spooked by the large group of people. We only had to wait on the bridge for about 30 minutes before it started to get dark and the first group of cranes arrived. They landed first in the field on one side of the river, but eventually a few of them flew over the brush on the riverbank to the sandbars in the middle of the river. Soon enough another group of cranes arrived, then another and another. Many of them landed in the field first before venturing into the river, but others went directly to the sandbars. Some groups even flew over our heads on the bridge before landing in the river. Eventually two of the sandbars were completely filled with cranes, who were enthusiastically squawking at each other. Their calls are a bit strange sounding. It's hard to describe, but I've included a handy video below so you can hear them too! The cranes in the video are only about a tenth of the cranes that ended up roosting here, but unfortunately the fading light made photography pretty much impossible after a while.
 The first group of cranes arrives at the river. | |
The next morning I meant to get to the Rowe Sanctuary before sunrise to see the cranes take off, but, you guys, sunrise is EARLY. So I didn't quite make it. The sun came up shortly after I left my hotel, and I eventually saw cranes in a field, so I stopped where I was. The groups I saw just after sunrise were larger than the groups I had seen the day before, and they were much more directed away from the river. Most of the cranes were all walking in the same direction, and every once in a while one crane would decide to take off, then a handful of others would follow, off to another less crowded field. I spent the rest of the day driving around in search of more cranes, and was not disappointed. As the day progressed they split off into smaller groups like the ones I had seen the day before.
My visit to the Platte River was a truly magical experience. Up until a few years ago I had no idea that such a massive animal migration even existed in the US. Growing up in a city, I thought stuff like this could only be seen in far off places like Africa or Asia. But amazing natural marvels like this can be found in all parts of the world if you know where to look.
My visit to the Platte River was a truly magical experience. Up until a few years ago I had no idea that such a massive animal migration even existed in the US. Growing up in a city, I thought stuff like this could only be seen in far off places like Africa or Asia. But amazing natural marvels like this can be found in all parts of the world if you know where to look.
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