Nebraska ~ Cranes and Raptors

Nebraska!

Day 3 of Migration of the Sandhill Cranes: A World-Class Experience with the Road Scholar group. This day brought us more sandhill cranes and learning about raptors, and yes it was another early start.

Waiting for Crane Rise on the Platte River

We headed out at 6:45 to see another Crane Rise. This time we went to an observation deck near the Crane Trust Visitor Center. Because the cranes were on the other side of the street we crossed over and stood on the safe side of the guard rail to watch as they awakened and rose up from the sand banks in and along the river.

Sunrise and Crane Rise

The sunrise was pretty, but it didn’t warm us up very well. It was cooler being outdoors to watch the Crane Rise than it had been in the birding blind 2 mornings earlier. I shot some video of the Crane Rise to share the motion, color, and sounds. They’re in the flickr album.

Historical marker with crane information

As it got lighter we could see that there were thousands of cranes on the sandbanks where they had spent the night. They roost near shallow water because they can’t roost on branches because of they don’t have a long hind toe to grasp.

Silhouetted Sandhill Cranes

CLICK HERE to see photos and video of the Crane Rise on flickr.

Who travels to the Crane Center?

We were happy to get back to the van to warm up. We went to the Crane Trust Visitor Center where they had hot coffee waiting. There was also a guy there from a Nebraska winery who was doing a tasting event - a little early in the day for wine!

Local winery

We had a little time to enjoy watching the birds at the feeders outside their gift shop. After the program we had come to hear we also had time for a walk around the property to look for more birds.

Red Winged Blackbirds

The program Road Scholar had arranged for us was about raptors. The two presenters were Blake and Vickie Hatfield from Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery. They brought 4 birds that they care for that can’t be released back into the wild because of their injuries.

Blake and Vickie from Raptor Recovery

First bird was a Kestrel, sometimes called a Sparrow Hawk. His name is Jack Sparrow. Blake and Vickie get calls about injured birds and then they go and carefully capture them. Their role in the organization is to stabilize the birds and then transfer them to the Raptor Recovery Center. The goal of the organization is to release as many of the birds as possible back into the wild, but sometimes the injuries wouldn’t allow the bird to care for itself back in the wild.

Jack Sparrow, Kestrel

Next was a Red Tailed Hawk. I learned that there are regional differences between Red Tailed Hawks. The ones in the Great Plains are called Kriders and their feathers are lighter than ones in other areas. Cimmaron is probably a Kriders, but they are certain.

Cimmaron, Red Tailed Hawk

Oberon is a Great Horned Owl. Loved seeing how how far he can turn his head. It was also interesting to see his eyes up close - amazing.

Oberon, Great Horned Owl

The last bird we got to meet was Sun Dance, a Turkey Vulture. While not a true raptor, they still care for him. He has imprinted on Vickie and Blake because they got him when he was young.

Sun Dance, Turkey Vulture

It was interesting to compare the talons of the four birds that we got to see.

Talon comparison

I made a couple of videos of the raptor presentation ~ they’re in the flickr album.

Great Horned Owl eyes and beak

CLICK HERE to see photos & video of the raptor presentation on flickr.

Red Tail

CRANE TRIVIA ~ the red patch on the sandhill crane’s head is skin, not feathers.

Sandhill Cranes - red patch

March 2015

Nebraska ~ In Search of Birds and Sunset

MUSAP in Nebraska

Day Two of Migration of the Sandhill Cranes: A World-Class Experience was spent driving around the Kearney, Nebraska area in search of birds. We started out early and saw the sunrise.

Sunrise over Nebraska cornfields

We had hoped to see Prairie Chickens, but didn’t have any luck. After the heat on Day 1 the temperature had dropped so that may have kept them out of view. Bill and Tim, our group leaders, knew where a lek was located and that’s where we were looking.

Looking for Prairie Chickens

A lek is an area where Prairie Chickens live and the males display.

the "lek" is at the top of the farthest rise

We also looked for Prairie Dogs - too cold for them too. We were patient and saw a couple poking out of their burrows, but not too much activity.

Prairie Dog Town - everyone was hiding

Next stop was the Harlan County Reservoir. The dam area is closed because they are doing repairs.

Harlan County Dam

We spotted a bald eagle down river.

Bald Eagle

On the other side we spotted some pelicans and various kinds of ducks. We were missing the warm weather we had enjoyed the day before.

Road Scholar birders

Lunch was at a diner in Holdredge, Nebraska. It was St Patricks Day so they were busy and the service and food we received was not noteworthy.

stools in the diner

After lunch, and warming up, we made a stop at the Holdredge City Park where there is a pond. Here was saw Cackling geese, a Mute Swan, a Ross’s Goose, and a variety of ducks. It was one of the better stops of the day for seeing birds.

Mute Swan, ducks, Wood Duck, Cackling Geese, Ross's Goose

We drove through the Funk Waterfowl Production Area - which was most notable for it’s name. Not too many birds to be seen, but there were some robins.

fun name

After a full day of cranes on Monday we hadn’t seen many cranes. But as we headed back to the hotel we saw some.

sandhill cranes over a corn field

It was wonderful to see green on the ground!

green!

CLICK HERE to see photos of our day of Nebraska birding on Flickr.

MUSAP at the Platte River

This was our ‘free’ evening. Dinner was on our own. I don’t care about eating so I decided I wanted to head out to take some pix of sunset. Then I realized I could probably see cranes too.

Sandhill Cranes flying in to roost by the Platte River

So I drove to Fort Kearney to watch the cranes fly in to the Platte River from the Ft Kearney Bridge. It’s an old railroad bridge that spans the Platte River and it’s a popular spot to be during migration time.

photographers waiting for the light and the cranes

There were a few other Road Scholar folks there too.

capturing the moment

The sunset was beautiful and the cranes certainly did not disappoint us. They started flying over in small groups and then came by the hundreds.

Cranes and contrails

It was interesting to see that they seemed to fly in more “V” formations coming back to the river to roost than I had noticed any of the other times we had seen them.

"V" formations

CLICK HERE to see the sunset and fly in photos on Flickr.

sunset sky

CRANE TRIVIA ~ For about a month each March, over 500,000 sandhill cranes converge on the Platte River basin in Nebraska to rest and eat before they finish their migration to their northern breeding grounds.

Platte River

Again I was happy to have borrowed Eric’s GoPro camera. There is a video at the end of the album of photos so you can experience the sounds of the cranes and see them in motion.

Nebraska sunset

March 2015

Nebraska ~ More Cranes, Day 1

sandhill cranes in flight

The first full day of Migration of the Sandhill Cranes: A World-Class Experience continued with brunch at The Egg & I in Kearney. We ate there 3 times and we all liked it (can’t say that about some of the other places where we stopped to eat.)  Brunch was followed by a lecture on crane behavior given by Keanna Leonard, the education director at Rowe Sanctuary. We learned about the migration patterns of the cranes and about some of their behaviors - unison calls, dancing, crouch threat.

sedge of sandhill cranes

We also saw a nest garter snakes in front of the Nature Center at Rowe. Several of us spent some time photographing them.

garter snakes in the grass

We spent a lot of time on the van driving to various locations to look at the sandhill cranes. The cranes spend the day foraging in cornfields. They eat corn left from the previous harvest and insects/grubs that they find in the dirt.

sandhill cranes in Nebraska corn field (taken through van window)

The heat was record breaking that day - even the cranes seemed to be subdued by the temperatures in the 80’s! We weren’t seeing many of the behaviors that we were watching for, but we saw hundreds/thousands of cranes.

sandhill cranes in the heat of the afternoon

CLICK HERE to see photos of sedges (flocks) of cranes around Kearney from Day #1.

tourists come from all over to see the cranes ~ sometimes you have to remind folks to respect wildlife

CRANE TRIVIA ~ a young sandhill crane is called a colt.

we were watching for crane behaviors ~ looks like one of them is dancing

March 2015

Nebraska - Crane Rise at Rowe Sanctuary

in Gibbon, Nebraska

The first full day of Migration of the Sandhill Cranes: A World-Class Experience had us meeting in the parking lot at 5:30 a.m. ~ anyone who knows me well knows that this wasn’t easy for me! It was impressive that everyone in our group was up and ready to go on time. Luckily the weather was warmer than usual so we didn’t need quite as many layers of clothing as had packed.

Sandhill Cranes stay in family groups

We drove out to Rowe Sanctuary and sat through an orientation talk before heading out in the dark to a bird blind to wait for the sun. They have 3 blinds and each can accommodate 25 viewers, so there were a few extras with our group of 21 new friends.

at the edge of the sandbar

I’m not sure if it was the early hour, but we all stood quietly at our blind window and waited for the magic - we were not disappointed. For almost 2 hours we stood mesmerized as the cranes took off for their day of foraging in the nearby corn fields. Each crane stays in the area for 3-4 weeks as they prepare for the rest of their northern migration.

taking off as the sun rises

When we first got in the blind we couldn’t see the cranes, but we could certainly hear them. The sound was constant as they stirred from their night on the sandbars in the Platte River. There is a video at the end of the album of photos so you can experience the sound.

CLICK HERE to see the album of pictures from the Crane Rise at Rowe Sanctuary

a sedge of cranes

CRANE TRIVIA ~ a flock of cranes is called a sedge. The group can also be called a construction, a dance, a siege, or a swoop.

March 2015