Thursday, March 12, 2009

Rowe Sanctuary - Nebraska
















Made it to the sandhill crane migration restign stop along the Platte River in Nebraska. Only had one evening to be there and just barely got to the Audubon Nature Center (Rowe Center) in time to get into a blind. Unfortunately, the river next to the blind was full of ice and no cranes came in very close. Flocks flew overhead, looked the spot over and turned away. No clouds in the sky so the sunset was less than optimum but you pay your money and take your chances. Rowe is not the best place to get close up shots of cranes but the shear number of birds is impossible to beat. The peak is about two weeks from now when more than 500,000 snadhill cranes will be roosting on the Platte every evening and feeding in the fields adjacent to the river during the day. About mid-April they are mostly gone on their treck to Alaska and Siberian nesting grounds.

2 comments:

tomsimages.com said...

Hi Jim,
These are gorgeous.
Looks like another great spot you've found!
Tom

Unknown said...

It is a neat place - been there several times for the cranes. this trip was less productive than the others.