Aerial surveys today show things winding down. We counted 54,000 birds mostly in the area of Rowe Sanctuary (relative error rate -13%, thus there may be more birds than counts demonstrate). The birds are now west of the Crane Trust. The viewing at Rowe still looks pretty robust. We had virtually no birds in the eastern half of the Big Bend of the Platte River today. We only had hundreds roosting on the North Channel of the Platte last night on our property. There is still a fair number of birds on the western side of the Big Bend of the Platte River which is important to monitor for phenology and research reasons. We will be flying one more time next week and that will wrap up the survey season. Last flight is next week – check the Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center Facebook page for final updates.
