Hello Liketu, it's nice to meet your acquaintance. I'm trying out your platform by way of Derangedvisions and his weekly Photography Contest and the Feathered Friends Communities SMAP Challenge. I hope you enjoy my content and I look forward to experiencing yours as well.
Keeping with the Sandhills theme for my third blog in a row, the Sandhill Crane migration is a sight to behold. Every year millions of them migrate through a 75 mile strip concentrating themselves along the I-80 corridor.
When I moved to Nebraska 13 years ago, the Sandhill Crane Migration was the first event I heard about. People 'flock' to Kearney, Nebraska from around the world to witness it.
Though I was intrigued about this mythical event, I moved to a different part of the state and never checked it out. That is, until two years ago. The last two years in a row I've traveled the three hours to do the tour and get as many shots of them as I can.
The designated tour starts at the Grand Island exit of I-80 and extends along the Platte River to North Platte, Nebraska. There are quite a few viewing areas set up along this route that have easy access right off the road, but the most popular is the Audubon Society, which charges a fee.
There are only a few places to view these majestic creatures interacting in the Platte River, mostly at the few overpasses, which bridge the river corridor. The Audubon Society owns a large section of this corridor, not only offering daytime tours, but they rent out blinds for overnight camping right on the sandbars of the river itself.
These blinds are quite limited, so you'll have to reserve them the previous year or be out of luck. This makes them very sought after, so they aren't cheap either. The last time I checked an overnight blind will set you back around $260 or more.
Because it's winter and early Spring, February-April to be exact, it's quite hard to get some good stills. During the majority of the day anyway. They bed at night along the many Platte River sandbars, but during the day they head to the fields to feed on the left over grain from the year before. There's very little color yet, so everything is still dead looking and brown.
That's why the rental blinds are so sought after. The cranes are super active at sunrise and sunset, flocking to and from the farm fields. The amount of birds in the air during these two parts of the day is awe inspiring. These are also the most colorful portions of the day, so the best time to get those shots in.
You will notice that in most of the shots I share there's a crane in the air above the rest. This is part of their mating ritual where they hop into the air then land and dance a bit while bobbing their head.
Sandhill Cranes mate for life, so this ritual is taken very seriously. Once a partner is chosen, it's them against the world for the duration of their life cycle. They stick pretty close together as a species as well.
While they do spread out a bit when reaching their destination, during their migration they pretty much stay close together. That's what makes their stop in Nebraska so spectacular.
Their migration path bottlenecks in Nebraska to an area just 75 miles wide along the Platte River. They all come together here to load up on carbs before moving on to the longest part of their journey North.
Now, I cannot say their migratory pattern has always been the same, but these birds have been doing this for at least 2.5 million years. Or at the very least, this is the age of the oldest Sandhill Crane fossil found, which was discovered in Florida, I believe.
I definitely plan to experience this phenomenon again and will try to better plan the trip, so my photographs will be more pleasing to the eye.
To check out Part 1 click here.
And for Part 2, click here.
Please make sure to take the time to get outside and bond with your environment. Your health will thank you at every level of your being and please share your experiences with the world. Personal communal knowledge is beneficial to us all, because this interaction is essential to our evolution.
Thank you and I hope your day unfolds on your terms.
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