Last Friday, the Crane Trust estimated there were 6,400 cranes on the Platte River. That number will grow to more than 600,000 at the peak of the spring migration.
Lights installed on power lines will protect sandhill cranes Follow Us
Question of the Day By LORI POTTER - Associated Press - Saturday, February 13, 2021
GIBBON, Neb. (AP) - Sandhill cranes making their annual mid-migration stop in the Central Platte Valley during the next two months will see things in a new light, at least the ones flying to and from overnight river roosts at Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary southwest of Gibbon.
As the cranes continued to lounge in warmer weather areas such as the south Texas Gulf Coast, Dawson Public Power District linemen braved below-zero windchills Tuesday to install new Avian Collision Avoidance Systems for two power lines that cross the main channel of the Platte River.
GIBBON â Although vaccinations for health care workers began this week, COVID-19 will continue to limit large gatherings for many months to come in 2021.
One exception from late February through early April will be the annual gathering in Nebraskaâs Central Platte Valley by thousands of sandhill cranes. Itâs one of the worldâs greatest migration spectacles.
Brice Krohn
Brice Krohn, president of the Crane Trust, which is south of Alda, said recent surveys by federal agencies and Nebraska groups estimate that 800,000-1 million sandhill cranes now make an annual mid-migration stop in the area.
Tall gray birds wearing bright red âcapsâ spread out in grasslands and harvested cornfields near the Platte River to feed, do crazy dances and sing their songs. They roost overnight on river sandbars.