2012 Crane
Viewing Information
Crane Viewing Page
(click
here
for our printable brochure)
Planning your
trip
Don't know where to begin? Click
here for information that
will help get you started. If you are looking for the crane
experience in a festival setting, check out the longest running birding
festival in the United States:
2012 Rivers & Wildlife
Celebration
Crane
Central
For fun videos on
cranes and the Platte, visit our Crane
Central page.
Map
Crane Cam
Virtual Tour
N 40° 40.178 W 98° 53.088
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What we offer
Rowe Sanctuary offers guided trips to view the world's largest
concentration of sandhill cranes from observation blinds on the
banks of the Platte River in southcentral Nebraska. The trips are conducted every year during March
and early April, when over 500,000 sandhill cranes along with hundreds of
thousands of ducks and geese converge on the Platte. Rowe Sanctuary is located right
in the heart of this magnificent sandhill crane staging area where the birds can be
viewed in huge gatherings on their nighttime roosts. Trips to our
observation blinds are timed to provide the best opportunities to see this
spectacle. Group sizes are limited to
maintain the quality and uniqueness of the experience.
A typical field trip begins and ends with a walk of
between 1/4-1/2 mile over level terrain. Morning trips start before dawn as the
blinds must be approached under the cover of darkness to prevent spooking
the cranes. In the evening, tours arrive at the blinds before the sun sets
to view the sandhill cranes as they return to the river and stay until dark. Benches are available for resting, but the blinds are not heated.
Our field trips take place every morning
and evening from early March through early April. Although we take
"walk-ins" when space is available, we encourage you to call after the
first of the year to make reservations. See our
Crane Viewing information page for more
details.
________________________________________________________________________
Thank you - You
do make a difference
Rowe Sanctuary greatly appreciates everyone
who has visited us during Crane Season. Whether you
signed up to see the cranes from one of our viewing blinds or dropped in
to purchase an item from our gift shop, you helped to fund a portion of
the work being done annually on the behalf of cranes and other wildlife at
Rowe Sanctuary. Admissions to see the cranes and sales in our gift
shop pay for roughly half of our annual operations and contributions from
people like you make up the balance.
To find out how you can further support our efforts on the Platte River for sandhill
cranes and other wildlife, click here for more information.
________________________________________________________________________
Become a fan of Rowe Sanctuary on
Stewardship Board for the
Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary
| Jon Abegglen |
Kelly Krier |
| Rob Ahlschwede |
Janice McGregor |
| Susan Ahlschwede |
Brian Moody |
| Charles Bicak |
Margery Nicolson |
| Becky Evers |
Ed Scantling |
| Jennifer Homan |
Kirk Summers |
| Joel Johnson |
Carol Wahl |
| Roger Jones |
|
