2010 Tour Narrative
Our March 2010 Platte River tour had the great fortune of recording three species of cranes, a first for a WINGS tour in North America, and possibly the first-ever for any organized tour on the continent! The star was certainly the stakeout Common Crane seen on our second attempt at North Platte. This Eurasian species has been recorded in North America about 18 times, with a majority of the records from Nebraska in spring. Coming in second place was the adult Whooping Crane near Grand Island, a rare but regular migrant through Nebraska that typically occurs in April. Both of these birds were mixed in with staggering numbers of Sandhill Cranes, with our maximum one-day count of some 400,000 birds! Watching many tens of thousands of Sandhills leave or arrive at river bar roost sites provides for one of the great wildlife spectacles anywhere. And their constant bugling en masse is a sound that will linger with us for a very long time.
Other avian highlights of the tour included a single Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying at a Greater Prairie-Chicken lek in the sandhills just northwest of Grand Island—with occasional interruptions from the local Coyote and Northern Harriers. Other Great Plains specialties included Harris’s Sparrows, “Harlan’s” Red-tailed Hawk, and large numbers of ducks and geese—including good numbers of Greater White-fronted, Cackling, and Ross’s. Four displaying American Woodcocks entertained us on the cold first evening of the tour. And we also encountered plenty of Bald Eagles, a flock of American White Pelicans, Baird’s Sandpipers, a rare Glaucous Gull, Eastern Screech-Owl, lots of American Tree Sparrows, and those cute Black-tailed Prairie-Dogs.
And what about that changeable Great Plains spring weather? Cold and breezy. Then sunny and mild. Then 72 degrees. Then back to cold and breezy. At least it didn’t rain or snow!
A final honorable mention goes to the copious amounts of Midwestern culinary fare, including hearty breakfasts and good steaks. But now that the tour is over, it’s time to go on a diet….
- Paul Lehman
Updated: March 2010