Here are some guidelines to consider as you plan your visit:
All Season
- Crane viewing experiences vary over the course of the season, with unique benefits to early, mid, and late season viewing.
- We want visitors to be able to see cranes! Our tours coincide with the dates when we have 30,000 cranes or more on our stretch of the river (data based on 5-year average, data courtesy of the Crane Trust). This typically means excellent viewing regardless of your visit timing.
- Numbers aren’t everything! Rowe Sanctuary is one of the best locations to experience one of the world’s last great migrations, with open-air, riverside blinds that provide an up-close and immersive experience. While visitors often seek ‘peak numbers’, seeing even 10,000-20,000 cranes can still be truly breathtaking!
Early Season (Early March)
- Cranes spend a lot of time foraging in the fields when they first arrive in the river valley, which makes for prolonged daytime viewing opportunities.
- High numbers of migratory Geese (Snow, Canada, Cackling, Greater White-Fronted) – often in the thousands!
- Higher likelihood of Bald Eagles in large communal gatherings on the river.
- Great winter sparrow viewing on our prairie and woodland trail network.
- Lower visitor numbers, leading to less crowding in viewing blinds and at the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center.
Mid Season (Mid-late March)
- Largest numbers of cranes to be found across the Platte Valley.
- Most reliable likelihood for ‘peak’ numbers.
Late Season (Early April)
- Warmer weather and more comfortable temperatures for viewing.
- After several weeks of resting and refueling, cranes spend more time socializing on the river in the mornings, making for prolonged viewing opportunities.
- Higher likelihood of seeing migration behavior such as kettling (large numbers of cranes circling in air thermals).
- Greater likelihood for spotting Whooping Cranes, as their migration peaks later than Sandhill Cranes.
- Chance to see early shorebird arrivals in the river valley.
