Experience Wildlife: Nebraska
Nebraska: Sandhill Crane Migration, Prairie Chickens and Sharptail Grouse
Highlights
Hands-on photography instruction from two award-winning, professional nature photographers: Alyce Bender, a Tamron Ambassador, and Jennifer Leigh Warner, a Nikon Professional
Photograph the largest wildlife migration in North America as over half a million sandhill cranes arrive during their spring migration and one of the least seen wildlife displays - the lekking of grouse.
Learn about the importance of the Platte River ecosystem and why this is such a critical stopover location for migrating birds as well as the underrated and underappreciated North American grassland ecosystem.
Photograph from blinds positioned for ideal viewing of the cranes, as they take off from the river in the morning and return to the river in the evening, and for the morning ritual “dancing” of prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse on their leks.
Enjoy personalized field instruction with a small instructor-to-participant ratio ( 1:3! )
Description
Every year from mid/late February to mid-April, one million Sandhill Cranes migrate on the Platte River Valley in order to ‘fuel up’ before resuming their northward migration.
The Platte River is home to the largest crane roost in the world! During the month of March, over 1 million cranes visit this stretch of the Platte River. They come as they have for thousands of years to this stretch of the Platte River—over one million—to rest, feed and congregate in astonishing numbers before pushing on to their breeding grounds in the north. Now, as never before, you can experience the wonder of North America’s great Sandhill Crane migration.
The arrival of the cranes on Nebraska’s Platte River—and the millions of other migratory birds that visit each spring—is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent. Peak viewing times occur at dawn and sunset, meaning there is an extremely short and exclusive window to experience this awe-inspiring scene.
