Sandhill Crane Migration in the Kearney Nebraska area

We spent the middle of the day touring around Kearney Nebraska looking for sandhill cranes. The light was much better for most of the day, some overcast and some clear sunny times. The sandhill cranes seemed to be eating the corn kernals that were dropped during the harvest. The staff at the Nebraska Nature Center said the sandhill cranes stop in the area for about 3 weeks to refuel for the remainder of their trip to Siberia (greater sandhill cranes) and Canada (lesser sandhill cranes). They gain 20% of their body weight eating mostly corn that has been left in the fields. They don't know what the cranes ate before corn farming, and there is some concern that they might have problems getting enough corn to eat as the farmers become more efficient at harvesting their corn.

The sandhill cranes seemed to be paired up, which makes sense since they mate for life and they are in the middle of their migration across a continent. The greater sandhill cranes spend the winter in the Texas/Mexico area and migrate to Siberia to breed during the summer. The lesser sandhill cranes spend the winter in the Texas/Mexico area and migrate to Northern Canada to breed during the summer. They both were quite good at jumping up into the air, sometimes they would bounce several times. We also saw them pick up sticks or corn stalks and throw them, I don't know if that was part of the mating ritual or an act of aggression.

We even saw a few flocks of turkeys wandering the fields. Some turkey flocks were all female and some were all male. We also saw a few ring-necked pheasants.