30 Nebraskaland • January-February 2022
y phone almost always rings
when whooping cranes show
up in the central Platte
River valley. A good friend, who simply
appreciates seeing the tallest and
rarest bird in North America, called in
early November. So did another. There
weren't just a few whooping cranes on
the river: There were a lot of them.
When I had a chance to head west
from Lincoln with my camera on
Nov. 7, I was rewarded with something
that was not just rare, it also was
unprecedented: a historic gathering
of 46 whooping cranes on the Platte.
It was the most recorded anywhere in
North America outside a fall migration
staging area in Saskatchewan and
their wintering grounds at Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf
Coast in Texas.
On that morning, the birds
congregated on the river just a half-
mile downstream of the South Alda
Road bridge on land owned by the
Crane Trust, one of many groups
working to manage the river and
surrounding landscape for whooping
cranes and other species. The Central
Platte Natural Resources District
viewing deck and roadside at the
bridge were filled with birdwatchers
who flocked there to witness the
gathering.
Crane Trust staff and volunteers
joined me at a Trust viewing blind
above the river.
"It's just amazing to see that many
whooping cranes all at once," said
Colleen Childers of Grand Island after
watching and photographing the
birds. "We're part of history!"
On several mornings each week in
the spring and fall, Childers is above the
river in a Cessna, counting whooping
cranes on the river and in nearby fields
as part of an official survey conducted
by Headwaters Corporation for the
A Historic Gathering
Story and photos by Eric Fowler
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