Sandhill Crane Cam 2009

Watch the Sandhill cranes at Rowe Sanctuary

Rowe Sanctuary's Sandhill Crane Cam is on the internet again this year, March 7 through April 8. Via the webcam, you can see and hear the great flocks of Sandhill cranes on Nebraska's Platte River as they rest and feed in preparation for the next leg of their migration.

Carolyn Hall, a retired lady who lives in my old hometown, Bassett, Nebraska, goes to Rowe Sanctuary every year as a volunteer guide for the Audubon Society. Hundreds of visitors come to observe the cranes from blinds at the river's edge.

In the morning, great flocks of cranes rise up from the river and fly out to the fields in the area to feed, and in the evening, they come back to the river for the night. It is a spectacle of nature.

Carolyn described the return of the Sandhill cranes this evening: "Great pink/orange sunset with thousands of cranes flying and it looked like landing on the meadows north of the river. The river is iced over except for a narrow ice filled channel."

Sleet, icy roads, and cold temperatures caused many people to cancel their tour reservations today, but the volunteers still kept the webcam going.

Carolyn will be running the camera on Thursday morning (March 12). She says that by 8:00 AM (CDT), there is enough light to get a good view of the river and the cranes. This morning in the cold and sleet, the cranes didn't leave the river until after 10:00 AM.