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Cranes draw thousands
to Watch
Kearney
Visitors Bureau
1007 Second Ave.
(308) 237- 3101 or toll free (800) 652-9435
KEARNEY -
Every spring, the Platte River Valley is filled with visitors, both the
human and the bird varieties.
Almost 500,000 sandhill cranes, or 90 percent of the world's population
of the birds, migrate through the region, and people from all over the
world come to view the spectacular animals.
At approximately 3 l/2 feet tall and with an almost-6-foot wing span,
anyone who has seen the annual crane "convention" can tell you the
cranes are a must-see. The wide, shallow Platte is a perfect resting
spot for cranes. Every night at sundown, thousands of cranes roost in
the river, spending the night standing in the water where they are safe
from predators. Then, as the sun rises, they fly back to the fields to
feed during the day.
Cranes, one of the oldest known bird species alive, have been stopping
on the Platte River for thousands of years, since the last ice age
formed the Platte, researchers believe. Sandhill cranes mate for life.
The pair flies the same path every year from their nesting grounds in
Canada, Alaska and Siberia to their wintering spots in Texas and New
Mexico.
Join fellow bird watchers and nature-lovers to see the cranes up close
on a two-hour guided tour of the Platte River Valley. |