An annual pilgrimage takes us to Nebraska

It’s the wrong season, and seeing one isn’t like seeing 500,000, but here’s a Sandhill Crane. They are magnificent birds, both on the ground and in flight.

(In which are recorded the adventures and misadventures of Christopher, his wife Fran, brother Phil and sister-in-law Susan as they pursue a birding Big Year, working together because it’s the only chance they have of making a decent showing.)

Each year, usually the third weekend in March, Fran and I drive from Kansas City to Kearney, Nebraska, to spend a little time with the Sandhill Cranes. It’s a tradition of about 12 years’ standing. Along the way, we often stop at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge just off I-29 in northern Missouri. This year, the weather was pretty lousy, with high winds and low temperatures, but the birds didn’t seem to care.

At Squaw Creek, the Snow Geese were thick – about 1.2 million of them – and there were quite a few ducks as well. A story had run in The Kansas City Star the week before we drove up about the Snow Geese. So there were more people on the refuge than we’d ever seen. They all came to witness the goose spectacle. We wondered how many of them knew about the 500,000 or so Sandhill Cranes a couple of hundred miles to the northwest.

Our drive around Squaw creek netted us Ross’s Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Baird’s Sandpiper, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater White-fronted Goose for the Big Year list. A few miles up I-29, we spotted a flock of about 10 Wild Turkeys. When we arrived at our hotel in Kearney, a couple of Eurasian Collared Doves showed themselves, and we were officially at 100 species for the year.

We celebrated by having dinner at Ruby Tuesday, watching a little basketball (it was March Madness time) and going to bed.

Kearney is not a large place. The dining choices mostly range from pizza joints to chain establishments, like Ruby Tuesday and Whiskey Creek. There are exceptions, including a couple of very nice places. However, at its lower prices, Ruby Tuesday stands out, and we eat there at least once every year.

The restaurant is set back from Kearney’s main drag, so it’s easy to miss. But the food is good, the staff friendly and the service quick. They also have a surprisingly good wine selection. This year, we had the Mark West Pinot Noir at just $20 a bottle. We would probably have paid $10+ more at another place.

We drove back to Kansas City on Sunday, happily missing Kansas University’s loss in the NCAA Basketball Tournament Sunday afternoon. We caught a little bit of the game in Lincoln, Nebraska, at Laszlo’s Brewery and Grille’s south location. It’s a regular stop for us coming and going because we hit it around noon both ways. We recommend it for a quick, satisfying lunch.