Currently about 300,000, or 86 percent of the migrating population, are in the area. Officials expect to reach peak numbers sometime next week, based on aerial and ground counts done by the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust and visual estimates by Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary and Crane Meadows. The annual spring migration begins about Feb. 15 and ends about April 11 each year. The number of visitors to Crane Meadows booms during this period and this year is no exception. The number of visitors is setting records nearly every day, said Dan King, a Crane Meadows volunteer and a bio-technician for the Nature Conservancy.
Weekends are the biggest draw, particularly during nice weather.
Eurasian also are thrilling, King said. An endangered whooping crane was spotted south of the Nature Center March 5. The Eurasian crane was spotted east of the Gibbon exit March 6. The Eurasian crane is considered the closest relative of the whooping crane, King said, and the birds spend most of their time in Asia, India and other eastern portions of the world. At the Adams County Convention and Visitors Bureau, requests for information on crane viewing have doubled from one year ago, said Anne Rohan, executive director.