32 Nebraskaland • January-February 2022
three adults spotted at Rowe Sanctuary
on Oct. 23. Three other groups totaling
19 birds were spotted on Oct. 31. More
arrived Nov. 1 and 2, but with survey
flights scratched for poor weather,
they weren't officially counted until
Nov. 3. For nearly a week, 57 whoopers
were present on the river. They began
leaving under north winds on Nov. 8.
The last birds to head south, a family
group of two adults and a juvenile,
departed Nov. 17.
The survey flights have been
conducted daily, weather permitting,
since 2001 and from early March to
mid-April and early October to mid-
November. Each morning before
sunrise, two planes leave airports in
Kearney and Grand Island with a pilot
and two trained observers, each flying
half of the 90-mile stretch of river
between Lexington and Chapman
searching for whooping cranes. On
their return flight to the airports,
they fly transects to survey specific
wetlands. Observations from the
air are confirmed by crews on the
ground coordinated by Headwaters
Corporation. The surveys are designed
to determine how whooping cranes
Above: A fl ock of 37 whooping cranes,
part of a larger group of 46 that
gathered downstream of the South
Alda Road bridge, loaf and play on the
Platte River as sandhill cranes feed in
a meadow owned and managed by the
Crane Trust in Hall County.
Opposite: Colleen Childers of Grand
Island and others watch from the
Central Platte Natural Resources
District viewing deck near the South
Alda Road bridge in hopes of seeing
whooping cranes return to roost on
the Platte River on the evening of
Nov. 7.
