Sandhill Cranes in Grand Island, Nebraska
Photographs by Uncle Tree
April 12, 2018
▼
https://uncletreeshouse.com/2017/04/14/crane-crazy/
(Click on any pic to gain a larger view)
Sandhill Cranes in Grand Island, Nebraska
Photographs by Uncle Tree
April 12, 2018
▼
https://uncletreeshouse.com/2017/04/14/crane-crazy/
(Click on any pic to gain a larger view)
Uncle Tree's House 
Here where I live, in Scania, Sweden, we have about 9000 cranes who stay for some days/weeks to rest and et before they fly north to nest. Here the farmer feed them so they not will eat the crops on the fields. It´s a well visit place for people around the area, even many people from Denmark coming here.😊 another pace where the cranes rest is Lake Hornborga
where it can be 25 000 cranes at the same time!
Thanks for sharing that info, John! 🙂
At the high point of the migration, and at a couple of their favorite spots on the Platte River, one can see around 60,000 in the air at sunset. It is very cool and fairly loud.
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Wow! So many of the noisy birds. One can think that they also “talk in sleep”, such noise they do.😁
Geese make noise, while the Cranes make music. 😉 All night long…
This is stuff dreams are made of.
absolutely beautiful! we have the Blue Crane here in the Western Cape, my fave bird! But not in such huge flocks. Lately, they have been breeding.
I’m not so sure all the farmers around there believe that,
but I do, Lloyd. 🙂 Dream on! It’s what we do.
Thank you kindly, Janis! 🙂 It’s cute and quite comical
to watch these long-legged Sandhill Cranes strut their stuff.
They jump, spread their wings, drop, and bow, then they run for 3 or 4 steps.
They also ruffle their tail feathers to make themselves look bigger.
The pictures above all come from the country road,
as most of the viewing sites during the day are away from the river,
and on private property, and I dare not cross that line again.
Well beautiful
Thank you, kind sir! 🙂 I have many more to show.
I will be happy to see you
How wonderful! We love our resident cranes!
Thank you, Pam! 🙂 Glad you liked!
I see what you did there. 😀
… seeing them take flight does lift the heart. 😀
They only let the tractor get so close, then they book.
More flights to come in my next post. Stay tuned!
Glad you liked. 🙂 Thank you much!
Thank you for traveling with me to Monte Vista in Colorado. Nebraska’s spring migration has been on my wish list for a number of years, and I hope I will make it there next March.
Best wishes,
Tanja
A very beautiful sight Uncle Tree. I wondered how you fared with your “crane weekend” and I have to say you did not have to crane your neck too much to see them! Looks like snow did not spoil your long-planned trip.
You’re welcome, Tanja! Your Crane photographs are very very good.
Thank you for chiming in! 🙂 It’ll be well worth your time.
Nice to meet you! Cheerz, UT
Thank you very much, Linda! 🙂 Glad you liked the way these turned out.
I’m thinking it’ll take around 5 or 6 posts to show about half the pictures I’m keeping.
I did learn something that I’ll keep in mind next year. They somehow do a count, once a week, along 75 miles of the Platte River between Grand Island and Kearney, NE. The peak of the migration was around March 25 (550,000), and after that, 100,000 a week take off to continue their journey. So, by April 12th, there’s a pretty big difference.
And, speaking of BIG differences, when we left there Friday at noon, the REAL FEEL was 30 degrees, with the blizzard closing in fast. The wind was gusting to 40 mph, so my morning pictures were taken out the window of the SUV. The trip back to Lincoln is only 87 miles straight East, and and it started getting warmer out in just 20 minutes. Halfway home, we had to turn the heat off. Shortly thereafter, coats were off. By the time we got to town, it was 80 degrees! Normally, you’d have to drive 500 miles south to get that kind of temperature change.
Thursday it was mostly cloudy, but a decent 74 degrees. The sun peeked out at sunset for maybe 10 minutes, but the skies were not full of cranes, much to our disappointment.
I do have more stories to tell, but I think I’ll keep my thoughts to the comment section, and let the pictures speak for themselves this time around.
So, next year you’ll take off earlier, around March 25th to catch the larger migration then? That’s a good idea, though you still had a great showing in those pictures yesterday.
As to the weather, I wondered how you fared as earlier in the week you had alluded the temps would be mild there but I kept hearing about bad weather and hoped it did not affect your long-anticipated trip.
Our weather has been nothing special – a totally rainy weekend, as well as today, and we had horrible ice storms, lots of damage to big trees and power lines. I was lucky, but 300,000 people lost power and more than half still are without until Wednesday. I will look forward to seeing more crane shots.
WoWzer! Glad you still have power. The remnants of the blizzard hit here Saturday. Hard to say how much snow you get when it blows sideways all day long, but we ended up with somewhere around 2 inches.
The Cranes don’t pay no nevermind to the weather, so, yes, next year, we’ll plan on going prime time and fight the crowds of “birders”. 😉 I suppose, I am one now.
Yes, that ice storm was not a welcome intrusion at all. And people on streets on either side of me lost power … I saw it in the local crime site I follow on Facebook. I am not on their grid. Whew! Two inches is not bad when you think of Minnesota and Wisconsin’s totals – SMH.
You are definitely a “birder” Uncle Tree – you should make a video like the one you sent me in the link about the cranes. Do you ever make videos with your camera? I’ve never tried it yet and the camera will soon be three years old.
I have taken videos, and the visuals are novice, at the most. Two tiny holes over a teeny-weeny microphone doesn’t do the music justice. I’ll leave those to the pros. Theirs look fantastic and the sound is far more life-like.
Okay…add birder to my list of characters. 😉 The funny shoe fits.
I won’t experiment then. Yes, the “birder” shoe fits. 🙂
The pleasure is all mine!
Love those cranes .. can an image be rich and warm! Great shots ..
Thank you kindly, Julie! 🙂 They’re really fun to shoot.
Camera-wise, that is. Hunting cranes is not allowed in Nebraska.
An impressive flock!
🙂 Thank you kindly, Margaret!