We watch cranes dance beside the Platte

My wife Fran says that seeing hundreds of thousands of Lesser Sandhill Cranes dancing in the fields and flying in ragged V formation overhead renews her faith in nature’s endurance. She’s easier to convince than I am, but it’s still an awe-inspiring sight. Even after making this pilgrimage to view the annual crane gathering along Nebraska’s Platte River between Grand Island and Kearney for 15 springs, I’m still filled with wonder at the sight.

This year, the weather cooperated throughout the three-day weekend we spent traveling and birding. Our first stop was Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Squaw Creek NWR). New to our 2017 bird list were Snow Geese whose thousands filled the air and massed on the pools with a few Ross’s Geese mixed in. The two species are easier to tell apart when they’re next to each other. The Ross’s is smaller and has a shorter bill, along with a more squared off “forehead.” Otherwise, they look the same to my eyes. We also added White Pelican and Wood Duck.

Pressing on, we hit the magic region west of Grand Island late in the afternoon, just as the cranes were flying in from the fields to their roosts on the Platte River’s sandbars. They come in flocks large and small from every direction, filling the sunset-burnished sky with their chortling call. When they’re on the ground and calling, you might imagine you’re listening in on the world’s biggest cocktail party.

Of course, cranes weren’t the only birds around, just the tallest. We picked up Double-crested Cormorants, Greater White-fronted Geese and two new sparrows, the Chipping and Harris’s. That brought the final total of new species to eight–fewer than we wanted, to be sure, but still enough to bring the total list to 81. So we’re on par with last year.

There’s a lot to say about the area where the Sandhill Cranes stop on their way to nesting grounds in the far north. The Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Row Sanctuary is not only a good birding spot but also a shining example of hay bale architecture. Who’d have guessed fodder could look so good?

Kearney itself offers the Museum of Nebraska Art, which has a new exhibit or two every time we visit. (Yes, there are real artists in and from Nebraska. Quit being such a chauvinist.) Also look for wineries. (There you go again). I’m no expert (he said, modestly), but them midwestern grapes ferment pretty good.

The spring crane convention in Nebraska has become an international attraction, so finding a hotel room from late February through early April can be a challenge. Make your reservation months in advance if you want to spend a few days enjoying one of the world’s most spectacular avian events.