Flatwater Explains: Sandhill Cranes

Editor’s Note: Flatwater Explains is an occasional series during which FFP reporters explain the people, places and things that make Nebraska what it is, while answering questions that both longtime residents and first-time visitors might have.

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Each spring, some of Nebraska’s most anticipated visitors descend on the Platte River in droves, both by land and by air: the sandhill cranes and the people who come to look at them.

Hundreds of thousands of cranes embark on a long journey from their winter habitat in Texas and Mexico to their summer homes in Canada, straight through a line of U.S. states called the Central Flyway.  

How many cranes show up? 

During the 2025 migration, scientists at the Crane Trust estimated more than 700,000 sandhill cranes during two weekly counts. Along with scientists at the International Crane Foundation, they came up with an overall estimate: Roughly 1.25 million sandhill cranes migrate through Nebraska each year, they said.

Other experts estimate lower, and the number can vary greatly by year.

Why do they stop in Nebraska?

Nebraska plays a key role on the route, as the cranes routinely stop for a long rest in wetlands along the Platte River in the central part of the state, sharing their preferred rest stop with the larger, and endangered, whooping crane. Nebraska is the only state along the flyway that outlaws hunting sandhill cranes, according to a US Fish and Wildlife Service 2020 study. 

What do these birds look like, anyway?

Sandhill cranes are fairly common birds, though their dependence on stopover sites like the Platte River leaves them vulnerable to habitat loss, according to the Audubon Society. They’re tall, with long legs and necks, gray feathers and a distinctive bright red patch on their foreheads. 

What do they do when they’re here?

Resting, but more than that. They group together en masse, especially during migration season, and perform exuberant dances for each other, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology notes, stretching their wings, pumping their heads, bowing and leaping into the air. 

An individual crane stays for about 29 days, according to Nebraska Game and Parks, gaining about a pound of fat to power the rest of its migration.

Why is the sandhill cranes migration important to Nebraska? 

Because people from all over come to watch. 

From late February to early April, the Crane Trust and Rowe Sanctuary, both between Grand Island and Kearney, hold sunrise and sunset tours to see the sandhill cranes. In North Platte, visitors take tours with local company Dusty Trails or flock to public viewing blinds.

Those visitors, usually around 30,000 at each site, mostly travel from out of town, driving local economies. In 2017, the University of Nebraska at Kearney estimated the economic impact of sandhill crane tourism in central Nebraska at $14.3 million, generating 182 full-time jobs. 

The cranes also help out local farmers by eating nearly 3.2 million pounds of waste corn left over from the fall harvest. 

Before about 75% of the region was converted from wetlands to croplands, the cranes ate the starchy roots of native aquatic plants. Now, they’ve mostly adapted to corn.

Protecting the cranes has sometimes impacted human plans. 
Opposition from wildlife conservation groups, such as Audubon Great Plains, has stalled efforts by the Nebraska Public Power District to build a 226-mile transmission line across the state – and right through both of the cranes’ migration corridor. The project, still paused, has revised its conservation plans to include bird flight diverters to reduce strike risk.