Each March and into April, as many as 1 million sandhill cranes make their way north on their annual migration from wintering in New Mexico, Texas, and other southern states. They use the Platte River in Nebraska as the staging area to feed and fatten up. It truly is one of the world’s most amazing migrations.
This year, on the day this photograph was taken, Nebraska set all-time heat records, with temperatures just short of 100°F; the thermometer in my van read 99°F when I took this photograph. What you are seeing in this image is sandhill cranes standing beneath a center-pivot irrigation sprinkler that is providing an unintended benefit: keeping them cool in the record heat. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I first came upon this image. I spoke to the staff at the Rowe Sandhill Crane Sanctuary, and they told me they had never seen the cranes congregating in the river during normal daylight hours like they were doing on this day of record temperatures. Normally, they spend their time feeding in the cornfields during daylight hours.
I’m currently in the planning stages of adding this wonderful destination to our Invitational Photo Tours schedule. It will be a three to four-day tour for cranes and prairie chickens. If you have an interest, just drop Jill or Tanya an email and get on the interest list.