28 Nebraskaland • March 2019
Sandhill cranes dance on their roost
on the Platte River in Hall County, part
of a courtship ritual that takes place
during a stopover on their annual spring
migration.
Crane
Moves
Sandhill Cranes
Arriving Earlier,
Shifting East
on Platte
STORY AND PHOTOS
BY ERIC FOWLER
T
housands of sandhill cranes will have arrived
on the Platte River in central Nebraska by
the time you read this. In the weeks to come,
there may be 600,000 or more on the river on a
given night, with some yet to arrive from their
wintering grounds to the south and others having
already continued their northward migration.
This gathering of more than 80 percent of the
mid-continent population of cranes is one of
the great wildlife spectacles anywhere, drawing
bird watchers from around the world to Kearney,
Grand Island and towns in between.
Changes in fl ows and habitat on the Platte
and the availability of food around it during the
past century prompted the birds to congregate
in a limited number of reaches within the 76
miles of river they now frequent. And according
to a new study led by Andrew Caven, director
of conservation research at the Crane Trust, the
phenomenon is still evolving. Cranes continue
to move, leaving behind roosts in the western
reaches of the central Platte River Valley for
better habitat in the east. The cranes are also
arriving earlier and staying longer. With more
birds packed into a smaller area, biologists are
left to wonder what the future holds.
Cranes and the Platte
Scientists believe sandhill cranes have been
stopping on the Platte River during their spring
migration for 2 to 10 million years. While
records are sparse, the tall, lanky birds are
thought to have been dispersed throughout its
length in the state before Euroamerican settlers
arrived on the Plains. The wide, braided river
and its many sandbars provided ideal roosting
habitat, and the adjacent meadows held plenty of
