March 1, 2012 - Cranes

I went out to Nebraska at the end of last week for my annual pilgrimage to see the sandhill crane migration. Naturally, I got out of town just before the snow storm struck and drove into clearing skies and warmer temperatures. Every year approximately half a million cranes stop off in Nebraska to eat waste corn, put on weight, meet up with family, find true love, sing and dance, all within a six to eight week window of time. Then they grab air and head north again, heading to ancestral breeding grounds. It is quite the spectacular. This year the numbers of cranes was what you would normally see in the midst of the time span, not at the beginning. So rather than just seeing lots of cranes, I saw a gazillion! I was awesome in the actual meaning of the word. The morning after I returned to DeForest, cranes flew over my house which means there were cranes in DeForest in February. It really has been a warm winter. If you can't make it to Nebraska this Spring, you can still get the crane experience. This is the local Audubon link to their "crane cam" : http://rowe.audubon.org/crane-cam. If you watch at dawn and dusk you'll see thousands upon thousands of cranes and geese coming onto the Platte River or leaving it. It will give you some sense of the enormous numbers. But enough of my adventures, now it's time for your to have some. There are many ripping yarns and tales of derring-do for your reading enjoyment below. Read on!