Today we counted 34,500+/-1,200 Sandhill Cranes roosting in the Central Platte River Valley. We detected Cranes from near Phillips to about Wood River as well as near Gibbon, Nebraska. This marks a consistent increase in numbers and distribution since our last count six days ago. Remember that this is just an “index of abundance” and therefore is more of a minimum estimate. There appeared to be quite a few geese and ducks spread out between Chapman and Overton, Nebraska. However, via our protocol, last week was the final survey for us to count dark geese. This survey will be the last time we count Bald Eagles and we detected 26 this morning. Weather conditions do not look good for in-migration from the Southern Plains (TX, OK, and KS) until the weekend (Saturday Feb. 29th and Sunday March 1st). Currently, our next scheduled flight (pending weather) is March 2nd.
