March 2024 • Nebraskaland 21
o sandhill cranes sleep? On their
bellies? In a wooded creekbottom?
From what we know about the
cranes that stop in the Platte River Valley in
Nebraska each spring, none of those ideas
seem to make sense. It certainly didn't to
Chris Helzer of the Nature Conservancy,
whose tip on this seemingly odd behavior
spurred me to spend two days in a photo
blind last spring and fi nd out that some
cranes do, indeed, sleep in the woods. Well,
at least sort of.
Several years ago, Helzer had noticed
sandhill cranes were spending time in the
woodlands on their property along a stream
that was once the south channel of the
Platte River south of Wood River. Curious, he
had Karen Hemberger, a long-time volunteer
from Hastings, set up trail cameras to see
what they were doing. After those cameras
captured video of the birds on their bellies,
Helzer thought: "That seems weird, but
really cool.
"Everything I've heard about cranes was
that they spent most of their time in the
open so they could see predators coming. So,
I was surprised, in the fi rst place, that they
were in the trees. And then when I saw them
lying on the ground and how hard it was for
them to get up, then I was really surprised.
It seemed like they were making themselves
really vulnerable to potential predation."
With tips from TNC staff and some
scouting, I found a spot the cranes were
Do
Cranes
Sleep?
Story and photos by
Eric Fowler
Sandhill cranes feed in the south channel of
the Platte River in Hall County.
D
