Week 9 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

Today we estimated 35,500 +/- 9,700 Sandhill Cranes between Overton and Chapman, NE. The vast majority are hanging out between Gibbon and Highway 10 to Minden. We expect a lot to move on today and tomorrow with strong winds from the south forecasted. These winds will...

Week 8 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

While we were unable to sneak in a week 7 survey, we completed an early week 8 count on the 3 rd of April. Between Overton and Chapman we estimate 391,000 +/- 190,000 Sandhill Cranes around the Platte River. There were favorable migration days this past week so many...

Week 6 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

Another big count in the books on Tuesday, the 25th! 705,000 +/- 193,000 Sandhill Cranes within the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) between Chapman and Overton, NE. Still very high numbers for this far into the season! However, because we have accumulated these...

Week 5 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

Alright y’all, this is a big one! On Monday, 3/17/2025, we estimated 736,000 +/- 55,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton, NE. Do I dare even say that I am confident this was a decent undercount? Monday morning thousands of birds left the river early and...

Week 4 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

Photograph by Jeff Carney on 3/8/2025 Hey all, On Saturday, 3/8/2025, we estimated 583,000 +/- 76,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton, NE. This is more than 11 times the number of cranes we saw last week and is a perfect representation of why we don’t try...