Migrating to Kearney for Spring Break - Rowe Sanctuary

No plans for Spring Break.  We had asked each other several times, "Do you want to do something for Spring Break?", but there was never any clear answer to that question.  The nearly constant cold and wet weather that we had been experiencing (and was predicted to continue) did not seem conducive to outdoor adventures.  Most warmer places in the southwest seemed too far away without something particular in mind.  Maybe it was just momentum (a body at rest...), but we had made no plans and were likely just going to stick around home for the week.

What about Nebraska?  Then we noticed this article in the Wall Street Journal as we were eating breakfast Saturday morning about the sandhill cranes and their migration through central Nebraska.  Wow, that sounds cool.  How far is it to Kearney, Nebraska?  Google Maps thinks it is approximately 10 hours of driving.  Would they have a room at the inn if we were to show up in the next few days?  There are a surprisingly large number of motels in Kearney (21 according to TripAdvisor), but rooms were only readily available this week only on Sunday and Monday.  Were there any openings for the crane viewings?  Surprisingly, a couple of spots remained for Monday.  Does the weather look manageable?  Actually yes, the weather was likely to be better than Texas   So we made reservations, spent Saturday doing laundry and packing, then headed out early Sunday morning for Kearney, Nebraska.


Northward to Nebraska.  It was an easy, uneventful trip north, although we were amused by the naming convention for county roads in Kansas and Nebraska: A, B, C,...AA.  (Other than the huge wheat (Kansas) and corn (Nebraska) fields, I guess there wasn't much else to amuse us on the way north.). We headed straight up I-35, then turned west on I-80.


Platte River.  We could not help but notice that for most of the 70 miles or so that we drove I-80, there was lots of water and many Natural Wildlife Areas nearby.  I-80 parallels the Platte River, which some say is "1 mile wide and 1 inch deep".  That is obviously an exaggeration, but not as much as one would think.  Many of the small ponds, at least one for each of the tiny Natural Wildlife Areas along I-80, looked to us to be the source of fill dirt to build the road bed of the interstate up out of the marshy surroundings. 

Wonderful Kearney, who knew?  We made it to the motel before dark.  Temperature was in the 80's, considerably warmer than at home!  We drove around a bit after dinner.   Kearney (pronounced kahr-nee, as in short for carnival worker) is larger than we had expected.  The businesses looked successful and there were public amenities such as multiple paved walking trails.  Kearney is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney (7,100 students), has some manufacturing, and is a center for health care in the region.  That is in addition to the obvious motel and restaurant business associated with the interstate.  And, of course, as advertised outside of town on a huge sign along the interstate, Kearney is the Sandhill Capital of the World.  We were genuinely impressed with how prosperous the town appeared, especially for a town of only 32,000 people. We just did not want to think what it might be like here in the dead of winter.



Up at O-Dark-Hundred.  We did not sleep well since we were worried that we would somehow sleep through the alarm, so we were already up and awake before the alarm went off at 4:40.  One of the biggest issues about early morning crane viewing is the potential for it being very cold and miserable in the unheated blind.  We therefore bundled up with multiple layers, hats, and gloves.  After a quick stop at the 24 hour McDonald's for breakfast, we were off to the Rowe Sanctuary's Ian Nicolson Audubon Center about 20 minutes away.  We were to be there by 5:45.  We were glad we had scoped out the road to the Rowe Sanctuary before it got dark on our way into town the night before.  We had already determined from home that it was several miles down a dirt road.  We would likely have been worried about missing the turn if we had not seen everything in the light.  It was easily navigable, but slow due to the severe wash boarding.

Rowe Sanctuary and introduction to the Sandhill Cranes.  There were LED lights (Christmas lights?)  showing the entry to the parking lot at Rowe Sanctuary, while the parking lot was lit only with red lights.  Everything was set up to minimize bothering the birds.  The person at the entrance told us to stay in our car until the guide arrived.  The lot was nearly full by the time the lights went on in the visitor center, although it was still completely dark outside.  We assembled for a short orientation film about the cranes and what to do (or rather NOT do) on the tour.

Each year, more than 10 million migrating waterfowl and other birds descend on south central Nebraska's Rainwater Basins.  The literature we saw claim that it is possible to see enormous concentrations of 1 million or more geese on some wetland basins.

The Rainwater Basin, which is only a fraction of its original size, is an important stopover between the wintering areas in the south (Texas gulf coast, Mexico, and New Mexico) and their summer homes to the north.  

Every March, over 500,000 sandhill cranes come to the Platte River Valley on their way north for the summer.  Each crane spends 3-4 weeks in the area, fattening up before the long flight north to northern Canada, Alaska, or Siberia. They roost at night in the shallow Platte River, which provides a safe haven from predators.  During the day, they move to area corn fields, eating whatever is left of the fall's harvest.  This is apparently beneficial for both the birds and the farmers.

It was not until hearing this explanation that I understood the importance of the character of the Platte River, i.e. 1 mile wide and 1 inch deep, that was so important to the cranes.

Each sandhill crane is 3-4 feet tall, with a wingspan of 6 feet.  They each weigh 8-12 pounds.  When migrating, they fly 170-450 miles/day with a flight speed of 38 mph.  They have a lifespan of 20-40 years.  Although the staff indicated there were lots of birds, they also indicated they had been somewhat slow to arrive this year.  It was not clear they had all yet arrived.


One of the major points of emphasis in the orientation film was NO light that might disturb (i.e. scare away) the birds.  No iPhones or iPads for cameras (they illuminate faces too much), no red lights on the front of cameras (they had to be covered with electrical tape), and definitely no flash.  Although it could be dimmed, the Frog's camera, like many high end cameras, had no way to turn off the screen on the back.  The guides provided yellow sticky notes to cover the screen.  We were also warned to only talk in whispers and not stick arms or cameras out the front of the blind.

We were divided into three groups of approximately 30 people each for the three different viewing blinds. We were assigned to the east blind.  The other two blinds were to the west.  We finished bundling up and the guides (one in the front and one in the back) led us through the dark with only a red light flashlight.  It was approximately a third of a mile to the blind along a mowed path that was at least 12 feet wide through tall grass.  Of course we did not know all of this until later since it was pitch black.  There was a single red LED light every tenth of a mile or so or at turns to mark the way.  Fortunately we lucked out on the weather.  There was a clear sky with lots of stars and just the hint of a tiny moon rising in the east.  The unseasonably warm weather of the previous day continued.  It was in the high 40's.

In the blind.  It was a relatively slow but easy walk even in the dark.  It was two steps up into the building and we were inside.  There were open windows at head height along the front facing the river, each about 3-4 feet wide, and a railing just below the windows to lean on.  There was a bench along the back wall.  Every two people had a window. But it was still completely dark.

Back of the blind on the walk back to the visitors center.

The Frog set up his camera on a tripod and I kept looking through the binoculars.  We could not yet see the birds, but we could definitely hear them.  They were very loud.  Initially it sounded as if only one was calling intermittently immediately in front of the blind, but the number making noise increased.  Even after it got light, it was the loud sound of the birds that was most memorable.

As it slowly got lighter, we were first able to make out shapes and then finally the birds.

In the river before sunrise in front of the blind, probably 75 yards from us.  Notice the one in the front with his mouth open, although he was hardly the only one making noise.

Unfortunately, something down river spooked the birds and all of those near us took off even before the sun was up.

Off they go, even before sunrise.  Something must have scared them.

Birds everywhere from down stream

Back at the visitors center.  We hung around the blind for awhile, then headed back to the visitors center.  The other two groups were not back yet.  From behind the visitors center, we could see that most of the birds in front of those blinds were still on the river.  The birds were a long ways away, so we could not see them well without binoculars or the zoom lens on the camera.  As long as the birds were on the river, the staff would not let us walk any closer.  However, we could certainly hear the birds!

Unfortunately none of the pictures capture how the birds were everywhere...as far as we could see looking up river and everywhere over head.

Looking upstream from behind the visitors center

Birds upstream for as far as we can see

As we stood watching, they eventually took flight and were milling around overhead presumably looking for their feeding destination for the day.  We weren't sure what more there was to see here, so we packed the car and headed out.

In the cornfields before the main road.  As we headed back towards the interstate we saw a large group of cranes in a field along the side of the gravel road near the back of a cornfield.

In a cornfield along the gravel road east of the sanctuary

As we stood watching, more came in from all directions. 

Landing in the cornfield

Then something scared them and they were off again.  Even if "scared" they fly so gracefully with slow flapping of their wings.  Whether it was because they were scared or it is just their nature, they continued to make all kinds of noise.

Off again, making noise the entire time.  Notice that some of them have their mouths open.

We occasionally see these birds at fairly high altitude flying over our house as they migrate either north or south.  I will forever think of them differently if I see them again.  It was certainly quite the experience to see all of them in one place, even if the sanctuary staff said many of them had yet to arrive for the season.

Here is a link to a CBS report by Dean Reynolds a year ago that also tells the story of the cranes.  There is also a link to a Sunday Morning report about the cranes further down that page.