The Crane Trust is a habitat conservation nonprofit organization located on the beautiful Platte River in South Central Nebraska. In addition to offering tours of one of the greatest migrations in the world, the Trust works year-round to protect and preserve nearly 10,000 acres of critical habitat for endangered Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, and countless other species sharing fragile river and prairie ecosystems.

Halfway through crane season! On March 15th we estimated there are at least 429,000 +/- 81,000 Sandhill Cranes within the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) between Chapman and Overton, NE. This is about a 25% increase from the numbers we saw last week.

This week we estimate there are 344,000 ± 55,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton NE along the Platte River. The Whooping Cranes have also returned for the season as we saw 4 Whoopers on the survey. For the first time this year our weekly count is not record-breaking.

On February 29th we estimated 272,000 +/- 43,000 sandhill cranes between Chapman and Overton NE. This is over double what we had last week and is another record for the year!