"Fears that Nebraskaโs annual spring migration of sandhill cranes could be the avian equivalent of a โsuperspreaderโ event have been completely abated, as a record-setting stopover in Nebraska of thousands of birds was enjoyed without any sign of a bird flu outbreak.
Three-quarters of a million cranes migrating north to their spring habitat landed in the Platte River in Nebraska. The number is deemed an underestimation, but you try counting more than 700,000 birds.
Fears that the highly contagious new strain of bird flu H5N1 could carry over to the cranes from livestock have been assuaged as the birds are beginning to move off again without a single dead crane being observed, local news reports.
Aside from the mini celebration of bird fluโs absence, the real celebrationโthat this year was the largest on-record for the sandhill crane migrationโcan begin.
The official estimate of 738,000 animals was made during aerial surveys by the Crane Trust, a nonprofit whose raison dโetre is to protect these magnificent birds and this unforgettable spectacle.
Pictured: Crane migration in Nebraska
These cranes have been visiting an 80-mile-long stretch of the Platte River, braided in some sections, for 9 million years, which these days lies between the towns of Chapman and Overton, Nebraska.
โWhat makes the central Platte River valley attractive to sandhill cranes is the river that we help manage,โ says Matt Urbanski, a spokesman for the Crane Trust, to KSNBโs Madison Smith. โWe will make sure that thereโs not a ton of vegetation choking the river out. Weโll make sure that it can widen, so the sandhill cranes have six to eight inches of water to sit in during the nighttime.โ
The sandhill crane stands between 3 and 4 feet tall, and is easily identifiable for its crown of red feathers and their rattling bugle-like call. It is one of only 2 species of crane that live in North America...
Interestingly, though the cranes have visited this site for eons, they did so even before there was a river there. Additionally, they now spend much of their time feeding on spare corn kernels leftover from nearby harvests, and spend the night standing in the water where theyโre safe from predators.
Arrivals and departures are staggered over several weeks, but at peak stopover, itโs one of the great sights of natural America.
โThere is nothing else like it in the world,โ saysย Marcos Stoltzfus, director of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon, Nebraska, toย News Channel Nebraska."
-via Good News Network, April 3, 2025
