Old Cranes

 

In Alaska we have Sandhill Cranes.  You can see them when they arrive in Homer. They might even walk up to your front door and jump around and squawk at you.  In Anchorage you can go down to the Campbell Creek Estuary and usually spot a couple off in the grass. You might even see a couple do a fly by, and you can almost always hear the birds cackling as they walk around in the grass. If you go north like up to Creamers Field in Fairbanks  Depending on the time of year you can spot lots of crane’s  either going to their nesting sites or returning south to their winter digs.

One Fine Looking Bird

Seeing a few random cranes  or even a large flock or two can’t prepare you for the sensory overload, that awaits when you step out in Kearney  during the spring migration.

Mostly on the south side of I 80 the cornfields play host to thousands of crane’s  all carrying on squawking obviously telling  their personal tales of migration.

Rowe Sanctuary 

The birds carry on all day, and sometimes flying  over in waves, all squawking to their friends and neighbors, and at sundown they fly back in mass to the river for the protection it offers from predators.

Lights Out Soon Everyone Back To The River

An excellent documentary on the local PBS the other evening “Crane Song ” shows fossil evidence that supports the birds stopping here for some 10 million years, that’s about 2,450,000  before humans stepped foot on the north amerikan continent, and before the Platt River was where it is today. The show also points out that when the Nebraska Game and Parks started conservation measures on the river mainly clearing brush and grass that it caught the eye of the local duck and goose hunters who couldn’t figure out why all the game birds landed on the States ground.

It took a couple of years but eventually everyone joined together and figured out that because of low water flows, the brush and grass needs to be cleared to create the habitat for the birds. Didn’t hurt that almost everyone has a plow or two just sitting around, ready to go.

The remaining population of Whooping  Cranes also migrate through Kearny but I haven't spotted any yet. There are also lots of Snow Geese that stay close to the ponds next to the interstate. 

Always Great When A Yellow Shafted Flicker Stops By