March 2024 • Nebraskaland 29
the word sleep, because when I think
of the human form of sleep, where we
are literally zonked out and dreaming,
I don't know if cranes do that," Lacy
said, noting she prefers to use words
like resting and loafi ng to describe the
behavior. "They might rest, but I think
it's more of shutting down half of their
brain because the littlest noise and,
'Boom!' they're awake and aware."
Lacy visits the Platte each spring
and has watched from bank blinds in
the evening and early morning hours
as birds roost in the river. In the dark,
she said, those birds are always on
alert, and she wonders if those with
their heads tucked under their wings
might be doing so more to conserve
body heat than rest. "But when they
go out in the morning and fi nd their
foraging fi elds, they'll get a bite to
eat, and then they will fi nd a place to
loaf and/or 'sleep'," Lacy said. "The
predators that try to make snacks out
of a crane are more active at night than
during the day, so they can aff ord to
shut down a little bit more during the
day. And they're usually in a crowd of
their compatriots, and if somebody
twitches, by god, nobody is looking
around saying, 'Hey, what's going on?'
They're all up in the air, and they're
gone. There's always that situational
awareness, even though their head is
tucked and they're on the ground and
their eyes might even be closed."
All is Well
Cranes were likely using this stretch
of the stream creek long before Forsberg
photographed them there. Helzer can't
say for sure if they are using it more
since the habitat was improved, but he
would like to think so. He sees birds in
other places he was told he wouldn't
when he started working in the valley
30 years ago, including prairies where
their heads barely rise above the tall
grass. He was happy to learn cranes
using this woodland stream wasn't as
odd as he initially thought, and that
they could stand up much quicker
than what he had seen were a bobcat
or coyote to jump into the fray. "That
makes me feel better," he said.
N
After weeks of hosting cranes, grass in the creekbottom was littered with feathers and down.
