Mass influx

Sandhill Cranes coming in to roost for the night.

Starting in mid March, about 500,000 Sandhill cranes arrive at the Platt River from Texas, New Mexico and Mexico.  They then spend the next month fattening up on waste corn (from the fields) and invertebrates (earthworms, snails and insect larvae) before the continue on to their nesting grounds.  It is truly an impressive sight to see so many birds acting as a single entity.  There can be as many as 12,000 in any half mile stretch of the river. They filter in during the evening to roost in the shallow areas of the river and then, if you are patient, you can watch the whole mass of them take off in the morning to head out to the fields.  Interestingly, 90% of their diet during this time comes from the waste corn in the fields.  Before there was the corn, the cranes ate starchy tubers from the surrounding wetlands, most of which no longer exist.  We must be careful how we change this environment in the future.