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Visitors begin to flock to Central Nebraska as crane season gets under way
By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com
ALDA -- About a dozen people, on a foot bridge crossing the Platte River, looked intensely Sunday evening, as the sun was slowly setting, at a recently grazed pasture filling with thousands of sandhill cranes.
The sounds of the cranes was overwhelming as the ones on the ground were dancing and singing their ritual calls while hundreds of others gently circled the open pasture looking for a place to land among their brethren.
According to Brad Mellema, director of the Nebraska Nature & Visitor Center at the Alda interchange off Interstate 80, the cranes were landing in the pasture after spending the day feeding in area cornfields. The pasture was a staging area for the cranes who were preparing to find a safe roosting area along the nearby Platte River for the night.
After a slow start to the annual crane migration because of the long winter cold spell, thousands of sandhill cranes are now arriving in Nebraska's Platte River Valley from their southern wintering grounds. As part of this annual rite of spring, as many as a half million sandhill cranes will begin arriving along the Platte River Valley to fatten themselves up before beginning their annual journey of thousands of miles to their northern breeding grounds.
This was opening weekend at the Nebraska Nature & Visitors Center (formerly known as Crane Meadows). For the next couple of months, visitors from through the United States and from around the world will be making their own migration to Central Nebraska for the annual bird migration that not only includes nearly a half million sandhill cranes, but equally as many or more snow geese and hundreds of other migratory bird species that journey through the area during their annual migration.
Making their fourth visit to Central Nebraska for the annual crane migration were Paul and Robin Gornell of Omaha.
Amateur photographers, the Gornells were hoping to get some good photos of the crane migration Sunday night.
"There is no other place like this where so many cranes or other birds that I know of get together at this size," Paul Gornell said.
He said the sounds and sights of this annual ritual of spring enhance the soul.
"It's always different every time we come here in terms of the photos we get," Gornell said. "We see something new every time."
And that is what Mellema is hoping for when people come to experience the crane migration in Central Nebraska.
He said visitor interest is very strong despite the colder than usual winter the area has suffered through.
"We are seeing interest through the Internet, we are seeing interest through the door and interest over the telephone," Mellema said. "We are having good traffic and people are starting to come to the area right now."
Through crane migration season, the Nebraska Nature & Visitor Center is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. During sunrise and sunset, the skies around the center are full of cranes. Tours are available for the public during the migration season. For more information, contact the center at (308) 382-1820 or visit its Web site at www.nebraskanature.org.
While the cold weather has been a challenge this year, now, with the warmer temperatures, comes flood watches and warnings. But Mellema said the cranes have been coming here for thousands of years and have seen all kinds of weather challenges.
"They are adaptable and smart birds and they have been doing this a long time," he said. "The Platte, over that time and millennia, has shifted. These birds are at home and they will take care of themselves that way. They do search for that shallower water or that sandbar that is completely surrounded. So, if the river shifts, and it does, and with these increased flows, you are going to start to see shifts of sandbars and it's good for the health of the river and the cranes will adapt."
Mellema said many of the visitors who will come to the center have been here many times before and come back repeatedly for their "crane fix."
But about 40 percent, he said, will be newcomers.
"They want to come and see this, and for us, we want to give them context," Mellema said. "Our context is Great Plains, Nebraska, Platte River and we want them to understand that they are in the heart of one of the most incredible ecosystems on the Earth. We want to put that all together for them and show them why the cranes are here, where they are going and where they came from."
Among those first-time visitors were Gene and Carol Brantz of Omaha and their friend Mary Sorenson of Des Moines, Iowa.
Gene Brantz, who was dressed in Nebraska red, said the cranes are as much a part of Nebraska as the state's storied Cornhusker football team.
"This was something we wanted to do for a long time," said Carol Brantz. "Last year didn't work out for us, so we resolved that this year, no matter what, we were going to go."
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The sounds of the cranes was overwhelming as the ones on the ground were dancing and singing their ritual calls while hundreds of others gently circled the open pasture looking for a place to land among their brethren.
According to Brad Mellema, director of the Nebraska Nature & Visitor Center at the Alda interchange off Interstate 80, the cranes were landing in the pasture after spending the day feeding in area cornfields. The pasture was a staging area for the cranes who were preparing to find a safe roosting area along the nearby Platte River for the night.
After a slow start to the annual crane migration because of the long winter cold spell, thousands of sandhill cranes are now arriving in Nebraska's Platte River Valley from their southern wintering grounds. As part of this annual rite of spring, as many as a half million sandhill cranes will begin arriving along the Platte River Valley to fatten themselves up before beginning their annual journey of thousands of miles to their northern breeding grounds.
This was opening weekend at the Nebraska Nature & Visitors Center (formerly known as Crane Meadows). For the next couple of months, visitors from through the United States and from around the world will be making their own migration to Central Nebraska for the annual bird migration that not only includes nearly a half million sandhill cranes, but equally as many or more snow geese and hundreds of other migratory bird species that journey through the area during their annual migration.
Making their fourth visit to Central Nebraska for the annual crane migration were Paul and Robin Gornell of Omaha.
Amateur photographers, the Gornells were hoping to get some good photos of the crane migration Sunday night.
"There is no other place like this where so many cranes or other birds that I know of get together at this size," Paul Gornell said.
He said the sounds and sights of this annual ritual of spring enhance the soul.
"It's always different every time we come here in terms of the photos we get," Gornell said. "We see something new every time."
And that is what Mellema is hoping for when people come to experience the crane migration in Central Nebraska.
He said visitor interest is very strong despite the colder than usual winter the area has suffered through.
"We are seeing interest through the Internet, we are seeing interest through the door and interest over the telephone," Mellema said. "We are having good traffic and people are starting to come to the area right now."
Through crane migration season, the Nebraska Nature & Visitor Center is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. During sunrise and sunset, the skies around the center are full of cranes. Tours are available for the public during the migration season. For more information, contact the center at (308) 382-1820 or visit its Web site at www.nebraskanature.org.
While the cold weather has been a challenge this year, now, with the warmer temperatures, comes flood watches and warnings. But Mellema said the cranes have been coming here for thousands of years and have seen all kinds of weather challenges.
"They are adaptable and smart birds and they have been doing this a long time," he said. "The Platte, over that time and millennia, has shifted. These birds are at home and they will take care of themselves that way. They do search for that shallower water or that sandbar that is completely surrounded. So, if the river shifts, and it does, and with these increased flows, you are going to start to see shifts of sandbars and it's good for the health of the river and the cranes will adapt."
Mellema said many of the visitors who will come to the center have been here many times before and come back repeatedly for their "crane fix."
But about 40 percent, he said, will be newcomers.
"They want to come and see this, and for us, we want to give them context," Mellema said. "Our context is Great Plains, Nebraska, Platte River and we want them to understand that they are in the heart of one of the most incredible ecosystems on the Earth. We want to put that all together for them and show them why the cranes are here, where they are going and where they came from."
Among those first-time visitors were Gene and Carol Brantz of Omaha and their friend Mary Sorenson of Des Moines, Iowa.
Gene Brantz, who was dressed in Nebraska red, said the cranes are as much a part of Nebraska as the state's storied Cornhusker football team.
"This was something we wanted to do for a long time," said Carol Brantz. "Last year didn't work out for us, so we resolved that this year, no matter what, we were going to go."
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| Quartile rankings | Flood watch issued through Tuesday evening |
