Ricketts proclaims Sandhill Crane as state migratory bird

GIBBON, NE — The Sandhill Crane has earned a new title.

Gov. Pete Ricketts made proclamation the Sandhill Crane as the state’s migratory bird at Rowe Sanctuary, about 20 miles southeast of Kearney on Wednesday. The declaration is part of an effort to highlight how the bird’s migration benefits the state.

“Not only is this a great natural spectacle that we get to experience here in Nebraska, we get to welcome visitors from all around the world,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts says visitors from 60 countries flock with the birds to central Nebraska to witness the ancient ritual of the cranes. A recent UNK study says more than 40,000 tourists travel to the area annually to view the birds, generating more than $25 million for the local economy - enough to excite John Ricks with the Nebraska Tourism Commission.

“How this place feels, how this place looks and especially how it sounds during the migration is something that simply can’t be expressed in words. People have to come here to see it,” Ricks said.

80 percent of the world’s Sandhill Crane population converges on an 80-mile stretch of the Platte River in early spring. Audobon Nebraska’s Kristal Stoner says it’s the river’s unique characteristics that draw in the cranes.

“In order to have the river here, we need active management to make sure the river stays like it is - so that the river has open channels for the Sandhill Cranes to land and then forage on the fields nearby,” Stoner said.

The migration is approaching its peak now in mid-March. As of Tuesday, the Crane Trust had counted 535,000 birds passing through, something Rowe Sanctuary Director Bill Taddicken says they’ve been doing for thousands of years.

“You can imagine an ancient man standing on a river listening to that exact same voice," Taddicken said. "There’s fossils of cranes found in Nebraska from 10 million years ago. There’s something that just echoes in your soul.”

The crane viewing season is expected to last until around April 10.