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...

Week 3 of 2025 Spring Crane Migration

Hey all, On Thursday, 2/27/2025, we estimated 50,000 +/- 5,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton, NE. A majority of the cranes were between Highway 281 and Alda Rd. bridge. However, around 7,000 were seen east, over by Philips, NE. These numbers are very...
Early Mornings for Early Birds!

Early Mornings for Early Birds!

It’s time!!  Fans of the blog will remember in my first blog post, I talked about how excited I was to see a Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus). I’m happy to report that the lekking season has once again begun! Once a week since January 17th, Emma...

Winter on the Prairie

Winter is here! ❄️ As the season shifts, some animals stick around, while others continue on to their preferred wintering grounds. Have you spotted any winter wildlife yet? I definitely have!! The snow that we have gotten in the area, however short lived, gave me a...