[KEARNEY, NEBRASKA] — I’ve come to Kearney to see the great migration of the sandhill cranes twice now, once in Mid March 2016 and again in the first week of April in 2023, which was the tail end of the migration. Here’s an overview of what to see and how to plan your visit to see the great migration of of sandhill cranes in Kearney Nebraska. These amazing ancient and magnificent birds.

_______________________________________

When you first get to the river, it’s 6am and pitch black. You feel your way down a path, heading toward The Noise. The purring, cooing a fluttering or hundreds of thousands of cranes, sleep-standing in the shallow river.

Slowly, the shrieks get louder and louder as the first light slowly begins to open its eyes.

You start to make out shapes stepping out of the darkness. Big dark masses that grow more detailed the lighter it gets.

What you thought was an island or sandbar is actually a throbbing, humming mass of birddom. They slowly appear out of the darkness, like the invasion of Normandy on DDay. Hundreds of thousands of them, nearly covering the shallow river from shore to shore.

We wait while the first pilot flocks start to take to the sky. 10-20-30 at a time. The rest remained shivering their wings in the water. When are they leaving? You don’t want to blink in fear of missing something.

We were straddled along a bridge across the shallow Platte with others. We delicately crossed the street and down into a ravine, prime grandstand seats without obstructions. Now we had a strait shot.

And that’s when it happened. For no noticeable reason, they all started taking off at once. The shrieks turned to a deafening roar, drowning out our hushed whispering. Hundreds of thousands of giant prehistoric cranes all doing the same thing at once.

Everyone stopped breathing, mouths agape. The sky was swimming with birds, wings flapping to catch the wind.

It was primordial, the sound of a calling crane. You can hear it a mile away. It resonates in your rib cage, like lion roars. Never have I seen or felt anything like it before.

______________________________________

The Great Migration of Sandhill Cranes

We were here in the middle of Nebraska, just outside Kearney, along the the shores of the shallow and meandering Platter River. Water from Colorado and North Dakota, now here to feed the fields…and these damn old birds.

We were here to watch one of the last Great Migrations on the planet. The Sandhill Cranes. Each and every spring, as has happened since the Platte was formed 10,000 years ago, sandhill cranes stop here at the halfway point of their 10,000 mile return journey from Mexico to Alaska.

Over 500,000 cranes come here each Spring, 80% or the sandhill crane population on the planet. All right here. At the same time. As they’ve done for two million years.

For ten thousand years Sandhill Cranes have been stopping each spring right here on the shallow shoals of the Platte River in the middle of Nebraska. Like a Flying J truck stop or AutoGrill, this river basin is their refueling and fattening up halfway point on their 10,000 mile trek back up to Canada.

They flock and gorge in the nearby fields all day and every sunset they mass in the sky as far as you can see, endless rows coming in for landing, ankle-deep in the middle of the Platte to stay all through the night. All half-million of them. Standing in the middle of the shallow river in masses for protection.

The Sunset Arrival of the Sandhill Cranes

As soon as we got to town, we headed down to find a spot in the river to watch the sunset arrival of the cranes. We were on a bridge by the Ft. Kearney Recreational Area and wondering “Oh no, are we in the wrong place? Should we move? Are they all over there?” We were comforted by other more-knowing birders were in the same place.

At first, it was just the slow moving river, gently running under the wooden footbridge, amazing that this shallow water had come all the way from the Colorado Rockies and North Dakota.

And just like that, it grew dark and it was all over, nothing but the deafening sound as the daylight winked out.

Come Back in the Morning to Watch Them Take Flight

The next morning, you get up to watch the even more impressive sunrise takeoff. When you first get to the river, it’s 6am and pitch black. You feel your way down a path, heading toward The Noise. You want to get there before they see you coming.

Slowly, the shrieks get louder and louder as the first light slowly begins to open its eyes.

Suddenly, you start to make out shapes stepping out of the darkness. Big dark masses grow more detailed the lighter it gets. What you thought was an island or sandbar is actually a throbbing, humming mass of birddom. And they suddenly appear out of the darkness, like the invasion of Normandy on DDay. Hundreds of thousands of them, nearly covering the shallow river from shore to shore. It’s cloudy and misty, I think they hit the snooze alarm to catch a few more winks.

The Sandhill crane migration ranks right up there with the last of the great migrations left in the world, along with the March of the Penguins, the wildebeests in Africa and the caribou up north, reindeer in Lapland. Every March thru early April.

We kinda winged it each trip, at the last minute. “Wanna go?” Always say Yes. But if you’re serious, do your research in advance and book the best viewing spots.

More Information About The Sandhill Cranes in Kearney Nebraska

There are lots of great resources online to find out more. Like this awesome Wall Street Journal article on the migration, in this perfect CBS Sunday Morning segment, the BBC recommend coming here, too, which is why you’ll sometimes hear English accents from serious birders. And there Denver Post and a great article from The Smithsonian. And from AFAR magazine.

here’s the Grand Island sandhill viewing site, and a great online brochure from the Kearney Visitor’s Bureau, and this Kearney site which has everything you need. One thing we wish we did was to visit the Rowe Audubon blinds that everyone refers to and has all the planning info you need. There are only a couple dozen slots for viewing and they start booking up in early January, so put it on your calendar. I will mine. There you are right up close in the best, most intense section of the river.

Here’s a great map of the different public places to view the cranes. I marked the places that matched the photos and video above.

— Last Visited mid March 2016 and the first week of April 2023; Post Updated January 2025 —