Other buses are coming from Colorado, Iowa and Illinois, and more are expected. They also have money to spend, and this is a good thing for the area. Most of Audubon's weekend crane tours are already full, Tebbel said. The sanctuary has 10 volunteers helping out with tours this year. I will never do that again.
Volunteers are marvelous.
Seifert said the crane migration has received increased exposure outside the Midwest in tourist, bird-watching and other ecological magazines, as well as trade and travel shows. A recent study said that ecotourism will be the top tourist attraction nationwide by the year 2002. Ecotourists will begin arriving in Central Nebraska any day now. Volden said he spotted a group of more than 300 cranes last Tuesday and expects the migration to pick up speed around Valentine's Day. The cranes will come in with the nice, warm south winds, Volden and Tebbel said.