Central Platte River/Central Flyway

For five weeks each spring, visitors to the Platte River valley in south-central Nebraska can enjoy the symphony of sounds and dancing rituals of 90 percent of the world's sandhill cranes.

Approximately 500,000 sandhill cranes stop to gain energy from the fertile lands along the Platte River. From mid-February to mid-April the cranes can be seen and heard for 80 miles along the Platte River.

Fossil records reveal the sandhill crane has been visiting this region for more than nine million years. Today, about half-a-million cranes stop in Nebraska during the spring. Most of the cranes visiting the Platte in the spring nest during the summer in Alaska, the sub-arctic and the arctic. They arrive from Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico, where they spend the winter in open areas.

Witnessing the gathering of half a million cranes under a blazon Nebraska sunset stirs our senses and sparks our imagination like few experiences can. What better way to rejuvenate your spirit than with the sights and sounds of such a spectacle with a cold March wind slapping your cheeks?

WHOPPING CRANES

Visit NET's Crane Song page

Back in the early 1940s, only 21 whooping cranes remained in the world. Probably never very abundant, this larger cousin of the sandhill crane came perilously close to extinction as plume and market hunters, egg collectors and habitat loss took its toll at the turn of the century. The tallest of North American birds, whooping cranes have slowly increased in numbers to nearly 200 wild individuals. This flock winters along the Gulf Coast of Texas near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and nests in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. Their migration brings them to Nebraska's Platte River valley twice a year, usually in April and October.

Whooping cranes do not stage during migrations as sandhills do; rather they stop briefly, often only overnight, before continuing their journey. The likelihood of spotting one of there magnificent creatures in Nebraska is small. However, the Big Bend reach of the Platte River boasts more spring sightings than any other location along their migration corridor, while the Rainwater Basin area is a good place to find them in the fall.

CRANE VIEWING LOCATIONS

Crane Meadows Nature Center
9325 South Alda Road
Wood River, Nebraska
Phone: (308) 382-1820
Website: http://www.cranemeadows.org
Email: info@cranemeadows.org

Rowe Sanctuary
44450 Elm Island Road
Gibbon, Nebraska
Phone: (308) 468-5282
Website: http://rip.physics.unk.edu/Audubon/Rowe/
Email: rowe@nctc.net

Hike-Bike Bridge
Fort Kearney State Recreation Area
1020 V Road
Kearney, Nebraska
Phone: (308) 865-5305

Hastings Museum
1330 N. Burlington
Hastings, Nebraska
Phone: 1-800-508-4629

PLATTE RIVER GENERAL INFORMATION

Snowmelt from the Colorado Rockies at the Continental Divide is the initial water source for both the North and South Platte Rivers. They converge at the city of North Platte forming the Platte River proper which ends at the Missouri River near Plattsmouth 310 miles later. From the Rockies it has flowed a distance of 900 miles. Together the three rivers flow across more than 580 miles of Nebraska, and in the process, drain over one-half of the state's land mass.

Nebraska is a corruption of the Omaha and Oto Indian names for this broad, shallow river which translates as "flat water." A source of water for wildlife, in turn, meant food for the Indians who learned to hunt game that collected near the river's edge. French trappers sought fur-bearing mammals along the river. Lewis and Clark camped at the Platte's mouth and, in 1830, the Platte River Valley replaced the Missouri River route to the Pacific Northwest. Many overland trails converged in the valley and became known as The Great Platte River Road and as many as 350,000 immigrants made the trek to settle in the west. Today the Platte's waters are used by cities, farmers, power districts and industry.

CHARACTERISTICS

The Platte's channel is broad, from a few hundred feet to over a thousand feet in places with many sandbars which are used by waterfowl and shorebirds. From above, it looks braided with shallow rivulets and usually one deeper, darker appearing channel that is suitable for canoeing. Flow is gentle varying from three to five miles per hour depending on the time of year. The water is fairly clear but does carry sediment from the adjacent loess bluff and farm land. However, it is not considered muddy like the Missouri River.

In spite of many uses for its waters, the Platte's flow is continual with the help of controlled discharges from upstream reservoirs. The typical hot, dry Plains summer weather will, nevertheless, affect progress somewhat by lowering and narrowing the navigable channel. On occasion you will find sunken logs and debris left over from floods.

SCENERY

The Platte River Valley from Fremont cuts through rolling hills consisting of glacial till mantled by loess. The hills have rounded ridge crests with moderate to steep slopes ending abruptly in the river. From Fremont to the I-80 bridge, riparian woodlands consisting of cotton-woods and willows and upland deciduous forests consisting of oak-hickory association are found on the ridge crests to Plattsmouth. Deer, fur-bearing mammals, foxes, coyotes, eagles, hawks, waterfowl, shorebirds, amphibians, reptiles, and channel catfish in the river are found in the valley environs.

Nebraska Game and Parks Web Site
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/migrate/intro.htm

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