Platte River Cranes 2009
March 18-23, 2009 - Trip Report
Guide Peg Abbott, with five participants

Wed., March 18 Arrival in Omaha / Crane Viewing
We met without delays in Omaha and soon were headed west.  As our Seattle guests had not seen an Eastern Bluebird before, we took a detour to Peg’s friend’s home at a small gravel pit lake.  Here we found some forest songbirds and a friendly Downy Woodpecker, but no sign today of bluebirds: luckily we saw them later in the trip.  The highlight of our afternoon drive was seeing a lake near Grand Island that was absolutely COVERED with Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese.  They were a mix of species and color forms, with a third of the population in the dark or ‘blue’ stage. They seemed restless on this balmy sunny Spring day and their sounds were as intriguing as the sight.  We had to tear ourselves away but wanted to check in with Crane Meadows Nature Center staff to see if anyone had seen the Whooping Crane spotted the previous week.  It was nice to see steady flocks of Sandhill Cranes overhead but no news on the big white bird.  Sandhills remained in view all the way to Kearney, where we got settled into our rooms. We returned to the Gibbon River Bridge where we saw a spectacular sunset and fly-in, the first of several such evenings to come.

 

Thurs., March 19, 2009 Rowe Audubon Sanctuary / Hike and Bike Bridge
As we met in the lobby at 6:00 AM myriad American Robins sang with gusto.  We gathered in the lobby of Rowe Sanctuary’s cozy straw-bale-constructed Visitor Center where we met our guide, Ed Pembleton.  Peg had worked with Ed some twenty years ago on issues of the Platte River. Ed was Audubon’s lead person for water issues on the threatened Platte and worked tirelessly on what was then one of five High Priority Campaigns. Few know as much about the river as Ed and his wife Sil, so we were in good hands. We walked a well maintained path out to the farthest blind, a small building oriented horizontally to face the river. In the dark we could hear thousands of cranes. As first light emerged, we realized there were tens of thousands – RIGHT THERE!  They were packed in before our eyes and restless. Downriver, something was scaring up cranes. Was it a coyote?  A Bald Eagle? 

Everyone was remarkably quiet as we waited for light. We each had an open window to watch through and time to take in the cacophony of sound.  For Peg and three of our five participants who were return visitors, it was time for a crane infusion.  At one point it seemed that all the birds were blown as a large group took to the sky, calling urgently.  As they passed over subsequent sand bars, each mob would join them, yet thankfully they settled back down, packing into the center area in front of us even more tightly.  We had a couple great hours of viewing and photographing and then returned for some hot coffee and a PowerPoint program by two volunteers about the life histories of cranes.

The rest of the morning we drove a series of farm roads paralleling the river in search of one lone Whooping Crane. A juvenile had arrived a week or so before, and been reported over the last weekend. We drove within range of the last sighting and explored in a radius from there but without luck. We enjoyed seeing literally endless numbers of Sandhills feed, interact and rest in the fields. Some groups had buoyant energy and several members that entertained us by dancing. Others seemed intent on feeding, probing deep into the lush, loose soil. We checked in at Crane Meadows (now known as the Wings Over the Platte Visitor Center) to see if others had sighted the Whooping Crane but to no avail. For Harold it would be a life bird – we made one more foray.   There is always such a lure in birding.  Lunch called, so we finally gave up and headed into Kearney.

We were just in time for them to shut the door at Peg’s favorite lunch spot, the French Café, where they were gracious enough to offer pie. But we needed full fare and after 2:00 our only option was a local sports bar.  We gulped down hearty hamburgers and tilapia dinners and our basketball fans enjoyed a peek at the first March Madness tournament games.  Then it was back for a nap and time to refresh. 

We wanted to watch the Cranes flying and to walk out to the Hike and Bike Bridge where long lines of birds come very close overhead.  Cranes prefer sandbar islands downriver to this site for actual roosting but the sunset show is still worthwhile and a nearby field filled to capacity.  Before that we walked around the grounds of Ft. Kearney, visiting the blacksmith’s shop once so essential to those incredibly tough pioneers. It is difficult to imagine how they endured; this resting spot on the Platte appeared hopeful and poignant to us this day.

As we had our big meal mid-day, several called the happy hour feast at the hotel good enough for dinner and turned in.  Others ventured across to the barbecue spot in our parking lot to relax a bit and enjoy a late meal.

Fri., March 20 Rainwater Basin / Funk Lagoon / Minden
Happy Spring!  It was a lovely day in Nebraska. Today we headed south to check out the waterfowl migration in the region’s Rainwater Basin pothole lakes. We drove the maze of Farm Roads M, L and 727, passing beautiful farms that seem prosperous, gifted by good soil and water from deep aquifers.  Ground water is becoming a huge issue for Nebraska and we talked about corn, ethanol and other topics as we drove south. But soon our eyes were on RAPTORS as we witnessed a Northern Harrier harassing a Ferruginous Hawk. The obvious size and flight style difference was fun to observe. Peg spotted the Ferruginous Hawk lumbering about on the ground in a recent burn area, likely hopping after rodents - pocket gophers, (or here – possibly prairie dogs) as they do in winter in the fields of Arizona. The harriers have learned to harass them with occasional success for a meal.  We watched the Ferruginous in flight, and then lost it over a distant farm. There was a ‘two-track’ at the edge of the fields with recent tire tracks, so off we went.  A van, a vast open sky and some great birds to watch, what more could we ask!  The Ferruginous put on a superb flight show, hovering above trees of a farm field windbreak, then intermittently harassed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks which seemed to have eyes on a large stick-nest in this windbreak as well.
 
We had good luck and good variety with total sightings of ducks today, but in general the ducks were really jumpy.  Whether from hunting pressure or weather or other disturbances, they flew as soon as we slowed down, so detailed study with the scope was difficult. We concentrated our time at Funk Waterfowl Production area and then enjoyed a cup of coffee and a chat with the locals at the local café in Funk, one of the only buildings, save the Post Office and grain elevator in Funk. They were happy to see us and we left with three Funk Lagoon T-shirts – have to leave a few ‘birder’ dollars with the local economy!

We changed focus and spent some time among small woodlots and brush piles of another local wildlife area, then parked near a larger lake where White Pelicans were the easy vote as star attraction. Winds had picked up and it was past mid-day, so we decided to head into Minden for lunch at the Minden Coffee House, one of Peg’s regular and favorite stops when in the region. Situated on the main square, this restaurant features local art, great coffee and daily specials that often include fresh salads, homemade soups and unusual additions to standard-fare sandwiches.  (Want to hear more? Visit the Epicurean Birder Blog at epicureanbirder.wordpress.com for our review!)

After lunch we returned to Rowe Sanctuary where Tree and Harris’ Sparrows were busy at the feeder.  We checked to see if anything unusual had been reported and to browse a bit more in their well-stocked gift shop.  We then headed in to take a break before returning to Rowe for our evening Blind date.

Tonight’s dinner is also featured on the Epicurean Birder Blog – a wonderful find near Kearney where fast food is all too common.  A local woman, Linda Burchell, and her husband Bob Ard, after some 30 years away teaching in Corpus Christi have returned to her childhood farm home.  They converted the barn to a restaurant and serve some of the most delicious smoked meats you’ll ever find. The brisket melts in your mouth.  We had a grand time sharing different dishes and learning about area history.  We had the 5:00 seating and they respected our need to leave at 6:00. It worked out splendidly, as the place is about 15 minutes from Rowe. In no time we were hiking out to our second time in Stevie’s Blind, one situated very close to the river where cranes were already coming in as we found our place. 

It was a gray evening but soft light still highlighted the incoming birds. And in they came, line after line after line. With our front row seats, we could watch every movement as they put their legs down as landing gear, pulled their wings back and then readied to react to the birds already present on the sandbar – some of which were not always gracious hosts.  The restlessness of this immense flock was palpable. They landed and almost immediately began marching – first downriver, then upriver – seemingly going somewhere but likely exhibiting displacement behavior for the anxiety of packing in to such dense numbers of birds. This week there were likely at least 350,000 Sandhills on this 60 mile or so stretch of the Platte. Tonight we looked directly at at least 10% of that aggregation.  The noise was deafening but we paid attention and could soon sort out unison calls of the pairs and alarm calls as a portion of the group took to the sky, afraid of predators, real or imagined. While we filled up on delicious food and remained sedentary, they were gorging themselves all day to get ready to migrate thousands of miles more. It seemed they use up almost any calories they gain with this nightly roosting ritual. We were in the blinds about two hours and the noise continued far after we left.  While most birds were settled as we snuck away in the cover of dark, we could hear their haunting calls all along our route home, even from the parking lot of our hotel!  Rowe Sanctuary keeps a live webcam on the birds for this month of migration (see it at www.rowesanctuary.org) and they say they talk all night! 

Saturday, March 21 Greater Prairie Chickens in the Fog / Calamus Outfitters
This was our earliest morning, one in which we’d drive north about an hour and a half to Calamus Outfitters, in time to meet the Greater Prairie Chicken lek tour at 6:30 AM.  The hotel staff was kind enough to put out coffee, yoghurt and muffins. Fortified, we headed north of Kearney.  Marcia volunteered to navigate and keep Peg alert on the dark and fog-clad roads. Fog was particularly thick as a cold front had come in on top of our very balmy days and warm highways were giving off steam.  With little traffic we made good time and met Alan Switzer, our guide for the morning. We loaded into the ranch’s school bus and were at the lek before dawn.  Calamus has another school bus parked on top of one of the sand hills, so we could sneak into position and stay a bit protected from the elements. In the dark we found our bench seats and waited, soon to be rewarded with a fantastic symphony of sound. They say that Greater Prairie Chickens sound like someone blowing air over the top of a pop-bottle. It is a hollow, resonant noise unlike any other. It carries a long way, but at such close range we could also hear their myriad other noises which included rattles, clucks and any number of non-musical utterances.  The fog was thick so the effect was heightened, Indeed it was eerie to peek out into the fog and catch shapes with tails up, air-sacs inflated, strutting.  We could not capture the moments with photos due to diffused light from the fog, but we could see their funny lobbed-over ‘rabbit-ears’ and watch this ancient ritual of courtship.  They were figures in the mist uttering age-old sounds. What a privilege to be so close to them, even though separated by fog!

Sue Ann Switzer was waiting for us with a smile and a large dose of what Marcia called “comfort food” and did we dive in. Biscuits and gravy, sausage, hot coffee… yum!  After a full breakfast, she blessedly let us into our rooms where we could clean up, take a power nap or just unwind. We gathered again at 11:00 to head out to circumnavigate nearby Calamus Reservoir.  Or at least, that was our intention. We found so much of interest on our side of the lake we held the other in reserve for the next day. Top on the list was a show of eagles like no other any of us had seen, perhaps shy of Alaska. We saw eagles by the score – 30 in one grove of trees, twenty more in the sky, five sharing a small bent log arching over the lakeshore, seven decorating a cottonwood tree.  This fall eagles came through as usual but found food in abundance due to a die-off of shad, a fish of this lake. They simply never left, and numbers grew to over 500 wintering birds, many of which we saw today. What fun to see Bald Eagles in every conceivable plumage from pale immature to tuxedo-quality adult garb.  They chirped, flew in dynamic spirals and caused great commotion in the gull population everywhere they flew. You could track an eagle’s path around the lakeshore just watching small clouds of Ring-billed Gulls erupt.  Belted Kingfishers called to us as White Pelicans provided competition for our attentions – gliding on the wing just over the water’s edge – wow!

With all this action we worked up an appetite and headed into the nearby town of Burwell, where Sue Ann had directed us to a delightful café – the Sandstone Grille.  En route back we found a first-of-the-season Eastern Phoebe, several Common Goldeneyes and a Loggerhead Shrike at close range.

Dinner at the ranch was good fun as Adam proved to be more than a guide. He cooked us Pitchfork Steaks, a secret recipe. You just have to go to Calamus Outfitters if you want to know how its done, but the presentation is priceless.  No one argued about turning the lights off early for bed – except, alas for us basketball fans (March Madness playoffs…).

Sunday, March 22 Sharp-tailed Grouse / Calamus Reservoir / Grassy Creek
We had a date with a group of Sharp-tailed Grouse this morning and Adam, with unceasing enthusiasm, greeted us with the school bus started at 6:30 AM, a far easier rendezvous having stayed the night at the ranch. We bumped along a dirt road, then a two-track through the field to reach another school bus blind.  We were happy to have no fog and patiently waited for what turned out to be a good show. We saw numerous Sharp-tailed males and at least one female which egged them on. There was lots of hooting and chattering and puffing of tails. At one point all blew, taking flight from the hill. A Northern Harrier was the culprit. As Ann said, he must just go from lek to lek each dawn for the next couple months… Luckily they returned, this time with more vigor. At one point they sensed danger again and it was incredible to watch them stay rigidly motionless.  We had a successful morning and returned with good feelings to another hearty breakfast.

We then went around the other side of the lake, scoping groups of gulls (no rarities this time) and looking for new species. A Northern Shrike put on a good show coming down from a telephone wire perch to repeatedly catch large insects. As we were bundled up against a cold east wind, we wondered just what insect dared to move, but perhaps the cold made them sluggish and insured the successful hunting we witnessed and photographed. We found Eastern Bluebirds, which likely just arrived as we had found none the previous days in Kearney. Our westerners Harold and Ruth enjoyed seeing Tree Sparrows and near the dam, all delighted in seeing a breeding plumage Horned Grebe. 

As it was increasingly windy and cold, we left the dam and reservoir about 1:00 PM, taking a back route to a local historic site and our lunch at the Country Neighbor. This restaurant was a step back in time. We had an enormous home-cooked meal for $7.00 and we watched 4 generation families enjoy their Sunday post-church visits. The day went quickly, so after a brief stop at the historic site we headed back to the ranch. 

Peg was curious about the habitat up Grassy Creek that they reported 12 Trumpeter Swans using this past winter (for range extension information see www.trumpeterswansociety.org).  Everyone was game to go along, so about 5:30 we ventured up a dirt road paralleling the creek for about seven miles. We passed a stunning chocolate-colored Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk and saw the Greater Prairie Chickens visiting their lek from a far off distance. The creek looked verdant with aquatic vegetation and likely was a secure winter home for at least a small number of swans. Further up the road we entered classic Sandhills Prairie with few Red Cedar trees invading – just a sea of grass. Horned Larks loved it and paraded and sang for us from the road. 

Dinner was even more unique tonight as Adam, Bruce and Sue Ann unveiled a Cream Can feast cooked in an authentic milk can.  What fun!  Sadly our adventure was drawing to a close and after dinner and a brief time to visit, most of our group scattered to start their packing.

Monday, March 23 Return to Omaha and departures
Today was our day to head back to Omaha and flights beyond. It was a gray day with no new birds but we enjoyed some hours of conversation.  We watched the landscape change from ranches of the sand hills to farms with deep loam. The mosaic pattern of farms was broken by lush trees of the Platte where it joined the Mississippi. What a great time we had along this River of Cranes. 

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