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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1980)
page 6 daily nebraskan thurjday.apriin, 1980 Photos by Jerry (TIcBride Story by Bill Graf i - 31 IP " 11 1 V Y Av-a i -t4 1 f Ai4 sY--?s n-o- v 'If n By Bill Graf An hour before dawn on the Platte River in central Nebraska, the raucous honking of tens of thousands of Sandhill cranes fills the crisp March morning air. Another day of the crane's migration spectacle is about to begin. As the veil of darkness begins to lift, the cranes which crowd the sandbars create a sea of high anxiety. Their call, which is best described as a hybrid of the chatter of a raccoon and the honk of a goose, drowns out all other sounds of the river as the cranes perform a ritual istic dance of nervous jumps and flapping wings. This scene has taken place on the Platte every March for 10 million years, according to a Nebraska Games and Parks publication. The Sandhill cranes will wait until they're at their summer home in Canada to nest. But many chose their mates for life during their month-long layover on the Platte. Once the yellow light of the morning sun exposes the herds of cranes crammed on the sandbars, 50 to 100 cranes take off and survey the area. Nervous cry All at once thousands take to the sky. As they flee, - . i: . 1 M ""?-', r 4 ITS T Ta . t V- v4 I . their wings create a drone and their nervous call is ampli fied even further. The cloud of cranes circle a few times, then head for open fields to the south of the river. There they feed on tubers, tender plant shoots, insects, earthworms, toads, snakes and waste grain to revitalize themselves for their trip to the northern nesting grounds. In the fields, the cranes gather in groups of a hundred or more. While feeding many hop, flapping five or six feet into the air either to impress a crane of the opposite sex or just to release their inherent nervous tension. The Lesser Sandhill Crane has drab grey plumage and a four to six foot wing span. Although the crane's only colorful feature is its bright red forehead, the crane layover in Nebraska draws specta tors from all over. In the evening the return to the river is just like the flight from the river in the morning, but in reverse. A relatively small number of cranes will circle the river until they find a suitable spot to spend the night. Once the early arrivals settle in, scores of cranes re turn from the fields to roost on the sandbars chosen by the early -comers. Frantic escape The Sandhill cran hw Itmdi f . . . as long as he respects their space. A curious spectator or - r e " u ; ciuuc hock into a frantic es cape. Because of the cranes' nervous nature they are very picky about their selection of an evening roost on the river. ci TdS rt0 thenNebraska Game and Parks commis sion the 34 foot-tall cranes require a roost on or near a ? SS 3 WUhJ httle or no veSetation n a channel about 2,000 feet wide. Before much of the Platte's water was diverted for irri gation or trapped behind dams, nearly all of the Platte in Nebraska had these characteristics. Today the cranes only roost on 60 miles of the river between Grand Island and Lexington and the 20 miles downstream from North Platte. Ecologists have been concerned about a further diver sion of water from the Platte River. They argue that if the cranes'habitat is destroyed there isn't another river in the Midwest that could serve them If they aren't able to feed in the fertile Platte valley the eco logists fear that nesting in the north will not'produce enough young to continue the cranes' healthy numbers ,4 1 ; ' t , V ',. '.1 . .. '.. . t . " . : ' ? A 1 5.
