Untitled 500,000 Cranes Gather in Nebraska Fossil records reveal the sandhill cranes have been visiting this region for more than nine million years. Today, about one-half million cranes stop in Nebraska during the spring. Most of the cranes visiting the Platte in spring nest during the summer in Alaska, the sub-arctic and the arctic. They arrive from Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, where they spend the winter in open areas.
Cranes are in Nebraska for just one reason, to eat heartily and store energy for their migration.
The cranes leave the river by the thousands in search of food at dawn. At this time, approximately 90 percent of their diet is corn, which quickly adds fat and puts them in ideal condition for th e rest of their migration. The other 10 percent of their diet includes insects, earthworms, snails, and plants which together provide essential proteins for migration and egg production. The shallow waters of the Platte offer perfect roosting areas, with sandbars at or just below the surface. These waters offer cranes the protection they need from predators through the night.