A whooping crane lands among a sea of sandhill cranes in central Nebraska. Whooping cranes will travel through the state until mid- to late April, said Brice Krohn, president of the Crane Trust.
KYLEE M. WARREN, courtesy photo
Bird watchers enjoy the sunrise from a Crane Trust blind.
ALEXA ROJAS, courtesy photo
Crane numbers in central Nebraska will continue to be high into mid-April.
KYLEE M. WARREN, courtesy photo
With the planned additions, Rowe Sanctuary’s visitor’s center will nearly double in size. “We’re excited we’re about to get started on a project we’ve been planning for since 2015,” Rowe Director Bill Taddicken said.
Whooping cranes have begun to join the thousands of sandhill cranes in central Nebraska.
The latest aerial survey showed about 457,000 sandhill cranes in an 80-mile stretch from Chapman to Overton. About seven whooping cranes have been spotted.
Sandhill cranes usually stay around three weeks, feeding in wet meadows and crop fields before heading as far as eastern Siberia. Juveniles are here to find a mate.
“We anticipate that a lot of cranes that arrived around Valentine’s Day are ready to continue their journey northward,” said Brice Krohn, president of the Crane Trust. “At the same time, we have new arrivals replacing some of that number. The unknown is how many have left and how many are arriving.”
Krohn and Bethany Ostrom, who conducts the aerial surveys, expect there still will be large numbers of birds into mid-April.
Krohn said the arrival of the endangered whooping cranes is a big moment for researchers and fans from around the world who come to Nebraska for their annual migration. There are only 543 in the wild migratory flock.
“They are just now entering the southern Plains and Platte River area,” Krohn said.
Those birds stay only two days to a week before heading to their primary breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park of Canada.
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Krohn said whooping cranes will travel through Nebraska from now until mid- to late April.
“It’s really exciting,” he said.
In other birding news, Audubon Nebraska announced it will break ground this summer on a $12.5 million expansion of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon.
The expansion will include two additions to the visitor’s center, as well as a new wetlands exploration area with an accessible boardwalk and dock, and new birding trails to the south of the visitor center.
“We are in the middle of a world-class spectacle and migration, and we have been working to ensure that our facilities are world class to meet this spectacle and the multitudes of people who come to see it,” Rowe Director Bill Taddicken said. “We’re excited we’re about to get started on a project we’ve been planning for since 2015.”
The renovations were designed with accessibility in mind — new features include automatic door openers, wider level-entry doors, concrete paths and wildlife-friendly lighting.
With the planned additions, Rowe Sanctuary’s visitor center will nearly double in size.
Designed by Lake Flato Architects, the west addition will include an education lab and large, covered pavilion, and the east wing addition boasts two multipurpose community spaces and a professional-grade catering kitchen. The parking lot will be shifted and expanded to allow for twice as many stalls and space for vans and buses.
Studio Outside Landscape Architecture has collaborated with the conservation staff at Rowe to design a surrounding prairie and trails filled with Nebraska native plants, ensuring natural spaces for wildlife to thrive.
Photos: Majestic sandhill cranes in Nebraska
Aurora cranes
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Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska
Sandhill cranes gather near farm machinery
Cranes fly in waves on a cloudy evening
A pair of sandhill cranes glide in a clear blue sky
Sandhill cranes forage for food in a field
Sandhill cranes fly over a field
Sandhill cranes silhouetted against the evening sky
Sandhill cranes flock near an irrigation pivot
Sandhill cranes glide in for a landing to roost for the night
Sandhill cranes begin to roost at sundown
Sandhill cranes at sunset
Viewing sandhill cranes from Richard Plautz viewing site
A sandhill crane flies above a field south of Gibbon
Cranes in the water
Cranes at sunset
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Pair of sandhill cranes at sunset near Gibbon, Nebraska
Sandhill cranes flying high
Sandhill cranes on and above a field near Gibbon
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The Nebraska Project cranes
The Nebraska Project
The Nebraska Project
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Sandhill cranes Rowe Bird Sancutary
Cranes in January
Cranes in January
Cranes in January
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If you go
Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center
9325 S. Alda Road, Wood River. Right off Interstate 80 at Exit 305.
Open seven days a week in March. Visitor center hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
There is still time to book spots in blinds along the river. Go to cranetrust.org/visit for availability
Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary
43700 Elm Island Road, Gibbon. Two miles south and 2 miles west of I-80 Exit 285.
Open seven days a week Feb. 25 to April 9. Visitor center hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reservations may be made online or by calling 308-468-5282 for crane viewing experiences. Phone lines are limited, so reserve online for best results.
A whooping crane lands among a sea of sandhill cranes in central Nebraska. Whooping cranes will travel through the state until mid- to late April, said Brice Krohn, president of the Crane Trust.
With the planned additions, Rowe Sanctuary’s visitor’s center will nearly double in size. “We’re excited we’re about to get started on a project we’ve been planning for since 2015,” Rowe Director Bill Taddicken said.