People migrate to watch cranes

By Rebecca Legel

Published March 14, 2008

At just before sunset over the Platte River, the sky is bright, its tones ranging from golden orange to dark blue. But the scene is not quiet. Overhead, thousands of black dots circle in the sky, hollering, whooping, hovering over the spot where they will roost in the river overnight.

In mid-March, near the peak of the Sandhill crane migration, more than 500,000 Sandhill cranes, 80 percent of the species, will migrate through this region, near Kearney, Neb., over the next four to five weeks. Every spring, the birds travel north from their wintering grounds to as far as Siberia to breed during the summer months.

But the birds aren’t the only ones flocking to the region. Along the river, Rowe Sanctuary’s three viewing boxes, or blinds, allow visitors to observe the birds up close. Cold tourists and birdwatchers stare out the windows of each blind, waiting for the birds to find their final place.

Roger Jasnoch, director of the Kearney Visitor’s Bureau, said the people who come might actually outnumber the birds.

“People travel here from all over the world,” Jasnoch said. “It’s not how many states they’re from — it’s how many foreign countries.”

Visitor maps at Rowe Sanctuary indicate that so far this year, visitors have come from Israel, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Amsterdam and Canada as well as 33 states. This weekend, seven MU students were among them.

Bill Allen, trip coordinator and assistant professor of agricultural journalism, and freelance science writer Emma Marris joined the seven-person mix of journalism, English and agricultural journalism majors on the three-day trip. This year was the program’s third trip to Kearney to witness the migration of the Sandhill cranes.

Each participant on the trip will be expected to produce a piece of writing or a story for publication in various media outlets, but Allen said a major reason he has taken students on the trip for the past three years is to give them an experience away from the classroom.

“The main thing that drew me toward it was the spectacle of the cranes,” Allen said. “Whenever you have a natural spectacle like this, it’s better than a Rembrandt. It’s better than a Beethoven symphony. It’s something that has to be seen, heard and felt.”

After guiding the trip for three years, Allen said his experience in the blind has changed.

“Although I still enjoy the experience myself, what I enjoy most is exposing students to it,” Allen said. “Now I don’t watch the birds so much. I watch the students.”

During the trips, Allen watches students’ reactions to see how they are experiencing the spectacle. In the blind, junior Jessica Petzel was rarely without a notebook.

“It is something that is so indescribable it makes you stop and think a little about life,” Petzel said. “It’s a nice place to think about the things you usually don’t make time for. There is some kind of deep magic in watching them fly.”

Petzel is a former Maneater staff member.

Journalism graduate student Kristee Sherry said the experience was so beautiful everyone involved knew not to talk in the blind.

Instead, the group stood in silence for two hours as the sun went down, watching as the giant, winged creatures circled the river and finally disappeared into the darkness. The birds were not quiet until after the group left, going back to the hotel to get some sleep before they experienced the birds’ lift-off to complete the cycle again in the morning.

While it surprised Sherry that people come from as far as Japan and Kazakhstan to see the cranes, journalism graduate student Ashley Spratt took an understanding of bird watching from the trip.

“People come from all over the world to visit Kearney and view the Sandhill cranes,” Spratt said. “It’s about appreciating wildlife for its natural beauty and being a patient observer of the environment and all its creatures.”

The Sandhill crane migration season will reach its peak in the next two weeks, bringing more visitors to Kearney. Allen hopes to take another group of journalists and writers to Kearney next year.

“Admittedly, these birds are not endangered,” Allen said. “But they’re awesome in the true sense of the word. They’re awe-inspiring, and they’re worth learning, thinking and writing about.”