Sandhill cranes have the longest migratory route of any crane - about 14,000 miles round trip.   They migrate along the Central Flyway from their wintering areas in Texas and Mexico to their breeding grounds in Canada, Alaska and Siberia.  Up to 550,000 cranes stage at Nebraska's Platte River each year in March on their way north. The submerged sandbars of the river provide roosting sites for the cranes as they pause here to feed on waste corn in the surrounding fields, and to wait for favorable weather before continuing migration. This staging area allows the cranes to build up fat deposits for their strenuous trip north. A single crane may gain as much as a pound during its few weeks on the Platte. The importance of the Platte River and the surrounding agricultural lands are important to the cranes since cranes arriving at their nesting grounds in good shape are better prepared to produce young.

The crane holds its neck straight out in flight, not tucked. Flocks are arranged in a loose V formation during migration. Constant calling between individuals can be heard up to one half mile away and can be heard before the formation is visable. They stop on the Platte in the fall on their way south also, but only for a day or so and in smaller numbers.  

Sandhill cranes are the most numerous of all the cranes.  Their greatest threat as a species is the loss of migratory habitat, especially on the Platte River. Water diversions for irrigation and urban water use have drained the Platte of nearly 70% of its water supply, which affects the river's ability to maintain sandbars used by cranes for roosting. Loss of migratory habitat also concentrates migratory waterfowl, including sandhills and whooping cranes, into ever-smaller areas of suitable habitat, raising the risk of catastrophic disease outbreaks.

Sandhill Crane

Grus canadensis