By Allison Peck
North Platte, Neb. - Sandhill crane season is underway in central Nebraska, bringing one of the state’s most well-known wildlife spectacles back to the Platte River.
Lisa Burke with Visit North Platte said more than one million sandhill cranes migrate through Nebraska each spring during a six-week window as they stop to rest and refuel along the river.
“They arrived a couple weeks ago,” Burke said. “And we’re starting to see the peak of them all arriving. There’s over a million cranes pass through Nebraska this time of year.”
While Grand Island and Kearney see the largest concentration, Burke said hundreds of thousands also roost in the North Platte area, particularly where the river is wide and shallow.
“The birds come in at night, and they roost at night,” she said. “And then in the morning they leave. When we say they come in at night, it’s thousands of them. It’s quite a spectacle.”
Dusty Trails offers guided morning, evening and daytime crane tours. The City of North Platte has also partnered with Visit North Platte to create a public viewing blind north of the Legion baseball field near the Highway 83 bridge.
In addition to cranes, prairie chicken viewing tours are also underway this spring.
Another major tourism draw returns May 1 with the Nebraska Passport program. Burke said the program includes at least 70 stops across the state each year and continues to grow in popularity.
“Within a week somebody has done all 70 stops,” she said. “It amazes me every year.”
Two Lincoln County businesses are featured this year: Crystal Cave and Falls Adventure Mini-Golf at Cody Go-Karts and The Coffee Bin. Burke said both locations can expect a boost in visitors throughout the season.
“Last year they said there was 147,000 digital stamps,” she said. “And that’s digital tracking.”
Passport participants can use a printed booklet or a mobile app to collect stamps through the end of October.
Burke also encouraged residents to submit nominations for the annual Tourism Excellence Awards. The program recognizes excellence in hotels, restaurants, retail, events and attractions, along with Volunteer of the Year and the Hero of Tourism award.
“Our frontline staff is the first person that a visitor meets, so it’s very important that they’re trained well,” Burke said. “We want to recognize that and give those awards to those individuals.”
Nominations are due March 18. Award recipients will be honored May 6 at Venue 304.
More information on crane viewing, the Nebraska Passport program and award nominations can be found at visitnorthplatte.com.