Forgive me, but I’m going to give you some advice.
Well okay — it’s stronger than that: I’m going to tell you what to do. I’m going to implore you. Entreat you. BESEECH YOU to do this, now:
Go to Nebraska.
Yes, Nebraska.
If you simply can’t get there now, then get it on your calendar and get there NEXT year. In March. You’ve got to go in March, in the first days of Spring. If you wait much longer, you’ll be too late.
Go there — go to Nebraska:
Make your way to the Platte River, near Kearney.
Get there before sunrise. Or sunset.
Bundle-up — it’s cold.
Stand, facing the water, and wait.
Be quiet. Be still.
Listen. Listen. Listen.
Keep waiting.
And prepare.
Prepare
to have a small Grinch part of your heart that’s been shut down for months, maybe even years, open up and expand as it takes flight
with 100,000 pairs of wings.
Prepare
to be awed — staggeringly awed — by the sheer density of grace. Grace like you’ve never seen before. Grace like you’ve never imagined.
Prepare
to feel a piercing in your throat and a welling in your eyes as you realize that in all your years of thinking you knew something, you realize that you’ve known nothing.
Prepare to feel small.
Prepare to feel your heart made huge.
Prepare
to go to Nebraska
Now.
Because what’s waiting for you in the middle of the Great Plains is this: The annual spring migration of sandhill cranes. Thousands upon thousands of sandhill cranes. Half-a-million. That’s one elegant winged being for every person living in Albuquerque. Or Sacremento. Or Tucson. Or Atlanta. For a span of about three weeks in March 80% of the world’s crane population — 80%!! — fills the Nebraska sky in elongated clouds of grey stitchery. Come evening, they seek the river — shallow water, just 6” deep — to roost for the night. For unlike herons, they can’t roost in trees. They must have shallow water.**
Come daybreak, they begin to stir, and soon rise in magnificent flocks, as they spread out to the surrounding fields, to fill their half-million small bellies with grain, grubs, insects and seeds.
They are here to rest and refuel, having departed their southern wintering grounds some weeks earlier. Soon they will continue on their journey. By the time they reach their nesting grounds far, far north in the extreme reaches of Canada, Alaska and Siberia, they will have traveled some 4,000 miles.
Can you or I really even fathom that? That distance? That effort?
Doubtful.
The Annual Sandhill Crane Migration { map via the Grand Island, Nebraska website visitgrandisland.com/ }
One of the things that surprises me most about the cranes is the fact that I never even knew about them til last year. Here I am an avid outdoorswoman, who prides herself on knowing a thing or two about Nature and the environment. Who likes to think she has an awareness of and is attuned to the seasons and creatures of the wilds a bit more than most people. Yet as I’ve written before, I don’t think the cranes were ever even on my radar till about a year ago. Though I’d seen cranes before, I had never really seen cranes before. And I certainly had no idea that one of the greatest, most epic natural migrations of the world occurs right here, just a day’s drive from where I live.
How did I miss this for so long?
I guess it’s because, as with so many things, we don’t see the cranes until we’re ready to see them.
The cranes can’t find us until we’re ready to be found by them, ready to have our hearts enlarged and lifted by their cooing trill, their black-tipped wings, their perfect awkward elegance.
I’m just grateful I was finally ready to be found by them.
Are you ready?
All the photographs pictured here were taken by Dawn Chandler in the first week of Spring 2017 in and around the Iain Nicholson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary, near Kearney, Nebraska.
**The Platte River has diminished considerably in the last few decades, due to modern demands. “Since the mid-20th century, this river has shrunk significantly. This reduction in size is attributed in part to its waters being used for irrigation, and to a much greater extent to the waters diverted and used by the growing population of Colorado, which has outstripped the ability of its groundwater to sustain them.”
I will probably not get to Nebraska in this lifetime, but thank you for posting these magnificent images of a true wonder of nature. You have given me a chance to at least get a little closer to this gorgeous experience. best to you, Ann
I’m so glad my words and tale resonate for you you Anne. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. You, too, have now been touched by the cranes… 🙂
Beautiful Dawn!
Thank you so much, Jane! Thanks for reading! 🙂
I live on an island in lake huron, and we enjoy the sandhill cranes arrival very much. This post is really beautiful Dawn. Thank you for it. xo
One day I shall visit the Great Lakes… an island in Lake Huron sounds magical — especially with the arrival of the cranes…
Thanks so much for reading, Judy!
Please add me to your list -blog
Thanks so much for your interest, Melanie!
I’m not sure if I can sign you up for my blog… I have attempted to add your name; I’m thinking you may receive an email from WordPress asking you to confirm. If I’m wrong about all this, I believe you can sign up yourself on my blog page, along the left-hand side: ww.taosdawn.com/blog-reflections-on-art-and-life/
Thanks again!
Living vicariously through Dawn! Thankyou for sharing
Thanks for reading, Kimberly! 🙂
Thank you, Dawn!
Thanks so much for reading, John!
Great photos Dawn! Thanks for sharing. This has been on our radar for many years. perhaps we can make the trip next March! I had a similar uplifting experience last year when we took the Maid of the Mist boat to the base of Niagara Falls. I thought the boat ride might be too commercial… but what an awe inspiring view. It actually brought tears to my eyes… it was heavenly!
Thanks so much, Amy!
I’m sorry to say I have yet to see Niagra Falls — despite growing up in the Northeast! Your tale tells me I need to make it a priority. Thanks for the info — and for reading and commenting!
And YES — DO get to Nebraska!
Thank you for this beautiful account. I love seeing the cranes along the river by our house but now I will look at them differently.
Envious that you have cranes near your home . . . Consider yourself blessed!
Beautiful photos! The sounds of the cranes really stir my soul. Have you been to the annual Crane festival in the San Luis valley in southern Colorado? It’s amazing too and not far from where you are.
Thanks, Tracy! I have not yet been to the San Luis Valley Crane Festival — in fact, I was unaware of it until I saw a flyer for it in March at the Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska. You can be sure it’s now on my list now! 🙂
For those of us who have lived our entire lives on the plains, we thank you. We are pretty cool.
You are welcome — AND — I agree: you are pretty cool. 😉
Thanks for reading, Jeff!
I drove from Lincoln to Scottsbluff to Chadron in the NW corner several years ago on assignment for a business magazine and while the landscape in the west of the state had some interesting features, most of Nebraska is exactly the same — a town of 2,000 with a large grain silo, then 10 miles of fields and another town of 2,000 with a large grain silo. In fact, the most memorable thing about the drive was seeing a bus headed east with “New York” on the marquee. Maybe I was there at the wrong time of year, but the quick jaunt I took up to see Mt Rushmore and the Badlands was much more visually stimulating.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But as a painter, I found the stark geometry of the fields and barns, the constantly changing sky, the gnarled tangles of late winter cottonwoods utterly beautiful. . . (indeed, stay tuned for my next post!)
Thanks so much though for reading and sharing your impressions, Ron!
I have wanted to go to this every year as it is 3 hours from my house. Thanks for the inspiration. I’ll check it out next year!
Oh YES! You must, Margy! It will change you! 🙂
My father and I still talk about the time we stumbled upon the Sandhill crane migration. We decided to stay off the Interstate while driving through Nebraska and Iowa. We came upon the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge just at the right time and saw this incredible sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of cranes! It was so impressive that we had to stop….and the rest was a spectacular experience! Thank you for bringing back the memory. I can’t wait to see your paintings! 🙂
So good to hear from you Stacy! I should have known you would be familiar with the cranes… 🙂
Glad my writing brought back a beautiful memory!
I love your writings, Dawn. Somehow you have this special way of tapping into our own lives and always with it comes joy.
Thanks so much, Stacy; I’m so pleased to know my writing resonates so strongly for you. Your comments motivate me to keep at it! 🙂
Now that was a treat! Thank you. The photos are just wonderful! Really enjoyed this. xo
🙂 You are welcome — and thank YOU! xox
The cranes flew over our house on the Rio Grande on their way to and from Bosque del Apache. I love their calls as they pass overhead! Boggles the mind how the whole migration bottlenecks down to that small area on the Platte.
Mind-boggling, indeed, Steve!
I’m not sure, but I think there’s a large flock of cranes that make their way up through Oregon’s Outback, over Summer Lake. That right there is another beautiful part of the country, and great place to check out birds…
Thanks for reading & commenting, Steve!
Can I put my name on the list of people who want to go there with you on a “field trip” next March? Seriously. Let’s do it.
Wonderful images and words. Thank you!
You are so welcome! And YES…. and we’re going to need to rent a bus! 😀 But that’s okay — the more people who experience the cranes, the better chance that they and the land and water they depend on will be protected.
{And we need to get you back to The Bosque, too.}
I Double Dog dare you to paint any of these pictures you took. I will buy at least one large print if you will paint it! Please? PLEASE??
DEAL!!
{ and thanks for reading, John! 🙂 }
Yes!
Was *hoping* for a “Yes!” from you, Lori! 😉
Breathtaking. I mean really BREATH-TAKING. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and thoughts with us.
Thanks, Sylvie! Hoping one day you and your family can see the cranes for yourself — it’s worth the trip!