Bucket lists are funny because they often inspire you to do things you would have never thought to do otherwise. Drive 4.5 hours with a 12 month old to see a bunch of birds in the middle of nowhere America? 5 years ago I would have said, "ya right." But Sandhill Cranes bring a sense of nostalgia to us. It's as though we are connected to Fairbanks, Alaska in a very unique way.
When we lived in Fairbanks, our apartment complex was right in front of a migratory waterfowl refuge and each year, thousands of Sandhill Cranes would come each summer. We learned during one of our trips to the crane festival that the birds stop on the Platte River in Nebraska on their journey north from Mexico/Texas. We thought, "hey, we should see them on the Platte in March if we ever live in the Midwest!"
And so this bird-watching trip was written on our bucket list and this year we headed north to see the migration. I think we were the youngest family among all the nature photographers and bird enthusiasts, but we had a great time. During the 2 days that were were there, the approximate count was 598,000 Sandhill Cranes in the Central Platte River Valley (an 87 mile area)!
We drove to the Crane Trust Visitor Center near Grand Island, Nebraska on our first day. For the first day of spring, it was COLD. But obviously, our baby didn't mind one bit.
After walking around the nature trails and seeing some bison, we checked into our hotel and went swimming at the indoor hotel pool. This was our first time at a hotel as a family of three, and I am so happy I thought of finding a hotel with a pool as a free way to entertain our little one.
After dinner at a legit diner, we went to an overlook of the Platte River to watch the Sandhill Cranes come in during sunset for their night roost. Sandhill Cranes eat in the fields during the day and then travel to the Platte River in groups once it starts to get dark, and there they sleep during the night. The water is their refuge from predators. Adelai could have cared less about the birds and the magical sounds they made as they were coming in, but she sure made friends with all of the bird-watchers and these two dogs that were just her size.
It really was impossible to capture the magnificent birds with my camera, but if you look closely, you can see ribbons of black in the sky...those are all birds.
In the morning, we arrived at the same location to see the birds wake up with the sun and fly away. When we left the night before, no birds were in the water yet. The birds land on the bank and then make their way into the water as the night progresses. However, when we arrived in the morning, there were new islands in the river--islands of birds. It was incredible! A nice man next to us let us look through his high resolution scope so that we could get an idea of how many birds there actually were. We watched the sunrise over the water and soaked in the bird calls before we froze and left for breakfast.
The best thing about this trip was remembering our time living in Alaska. It was so good to have our first solo family vacation because we were just able to be us without any distraction. We may not have seen a great big flock of cranes fly away from the river, but we did see the cranes and we did make more memories.
On our way home, we made a detour at the Mushroom Rock State Park in Kansas and had a good time taking pictures and stretching our legs. This quick trip was full of memories, smiles, and cute pictures. It was nice to get away from regular life for a bit.
Nature is amazing! That's the kind of thing that would never even cross my mind to do, but I would love it. It sounds magical!
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