Trip Report: 2015 Spring Sandhill Crane Migration in Nebraska

Every March I head to central Nebraska to witness an amazing sight, the migration of 500,000 Sandhill Cranes. I watch as these graceful and elegant creatures glide effortlessly through the sky. Every dawn they lift off from a 100 mile stretch of the Platte River to feed in the nearby fields. Every dusk they come back to the river. They stay there overnight in the middle of the low running channels, the water an alarm system alerting them to potential predators. Their call is distinctive. One can hear them coming from miles away, their collective chorus signaling a tradition that dates back millions of years, the migration north in the spring.

Here is this years collection of images from my experience:

A Sandhill Crane glides through the sky above the Platte River in Central Nebraska in the warm morning light.
Flight in the Morning Light
A Sandhill Crane gets ready to soar through the sky above the Platte River in Central Nebraska in the warm morning light.
Getting Ready to Soar
A Sandhill Crane twirls an dances in the early morning sunlight on a sandbar in the Platte River in Nebraska.
Twirling and Dancing
A leucistic Sandhill Crane wades through the waters of the Platte River at dusk.
Leucistic Sandhill Crane
Sandhill Crane Takes Flight
Sandhill Crane Takes Flight
A Sandhill Crane banks above the Platte River in Central Nebraska in the warm morning light.
Flight Illuminated by Morning Light
Two Take Flight
Two Take Flight
Sandhill Crane turns toward the sun above the Platte River in Central Nebraska in the warm morning light.
Turning Toward the Sun
Two Sandhill Cranes Soaring
Two Sandhill Cranes Soaring
A Sandhill Crane Soars High.
Soaring High
Two Sandhill Cranes take off from the Platte River. Each February through April hundreds of thousands of cranes migrate through the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska.
Two Taking Flight

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