Oh
[Music]
this is I think without doubt one of the
most spectacular migrations that you can
witness in North America if not the most
spectacular there’s just something
really uplifting and inspiring about
them and people all over the world have
felt that way they’re kind of impossible
when the cranes arrive it’s the first
sign the springs coming and then soon
after the baby calves will be coming and
hitting the ground and the grass greens
up it’s the start of the best time of
year for me cranes have been in the in
the world for tens of millions of years
and they’ve been doing this migration
for at least 10,000 years
from what we know each individual crane
will spend about three to four weeks
here and they’re doing a behavior that’s
common with many other water birds
called staging they’re kind of fattening
up for the rest of their journey and
then they’re also kind of meeting up
with their friends with their mates with
family they start doing certain social
behaviors here for the first time they
get up in there there’s a gigantic lift
off the river and it is actually
definitely so then they go out and then
go to their feeding areas in the
cornfields there usually they’re gone
before we put a seed in the ground so we
really cook this pretty well and for the
cranes it’s a breakfast buffet all day
all day all you can eat buffet the
cranes have adapted to where is grain is
very important to it now we’re probably
really only leaving about 250 pounds of
corn that the combine isn’t getting and
then the cows are cleaning up part of
that but the cranes are thriving on that
little amount we’re leaving
there are some of the world’s most
successful birds in terms of how long
they’ve been around on this planet and I
think eating they’re eating corn even
though it’s only been around for a
hundred years which is a tiny portion of
their evolution it’s another measure of
their resilience and their opportunism
they’re taking advantage of a of a new
food source today in the Platte River
Valley about 95% of their caloric intake
is from corn it provides them calories
but it does not provide them nutrients
or protein and and some essential
minerals they get that from these wet
Meadows so even though santel cranes are
doing well they of course face threats
just like every other species that the
number one threat region-wide for them
is the loss of wetland habitat and loss
of habitat in general we really need
these meadows and that we’re to a point
where we have to preserve the last few
percent that remain along
Glatt and elsewhere so we are working to
restore these prairies and also with
multiple objectives in mind to improve
habitat for trains but also these other
grassland and wetland Birds
with the cranes they can’t really shift
away from this river they really need
this river system these birds are
adapted to water and they need that and
water obviously is affected by climate
the jury is kind of out on how climate
change will affect Sandhills but we know
that their migration has advanced
they’re arriving about 30 days earlier
than they did 20 years ago that’s a very
rapid shift they can deal with all sorts
of changes but they need water and they
need wetlands at the end of the day I
think they’re resilient but I think that
it’s not really about them it’s about
this whole Great Plains water bird
ecosystem that is on the verge of
something very dangerous if we don’t
really put our foot down and stop it so
just because the cranes are abundant it
doesn’t mean they’re not fragile they
were over hunted and they lost a lot of
habitat going into the 1930s and the
u.s. actually legislated to protect them
and other native birds sandhill cranes
can be hunted they in fact are hunted in
almost all states except Nebraska where
we are now but it’s always under strict
conditions so I think the the success of
these birds is a combination of their
own natural resilience and also the fact
that humans have acted to to help them
they’re a symbol of health because of
their own success on their own terms and
they also symbolize what humans can
achieve when we work together their
[Music] you
[Music]
this is I think without doubt one of the
most spectacular migrations that you can
witness in North America if not the most
spectacular there’s just something
really uplifting and inspiring about
them and people all over the world have
felt that way they’re kind of impossible
when the cranes arrive it’s the first
sign the springs coming and then soon
after the baby calves will be coming and
hitting the ground and the grass greens
up it’s the start of the best time of
year for me cranes have been in the in
the world for tens of millions of years
and they’ve been doing this migration
for at least 10,000 years
from what we know each individual crane
will spend about three to four weeks
here and they’re doing a behavior that’s
common with many other water birds
called staging they’re kind of fattening
up for the rest of their journey and
then they’re also kind of meeting up
with their friends with their mates with
family they start doing certain social
behaviors here for the first time they
get up in there there’s a gigantic lift
off the river and it is actually
definitely so then they go out and then
go to their feeding areas in the
cornfields there usually they’re gone
before we put a seed in the ground so we
really cook this pretty well and for the
cranes it’s a breakfast buffet all day
all day all you can eat buffet the
cranes have adapted to where is grain is
very important to it now we’re probably
really only leaving about 250 pounds of
corn that the combine isn’t getting and
then the cows are cleaning up part of
that but the cranes are thriving on that
little amount we’re leaving
there are some of the world’s most
successful birds in terms of how long
they’ve been around on this planet and I
think eating they’re eating corn even
though it’s only been around for a
hundred years which is a tiny portion of
their evolution it’s another measure of
their resilience and their opportunism
they’re taking advantage of a of a new
food source today in the Platte River
Valley about 95% of their caloric intake
is from corn it provides them calories
but it does not provide them nutrients
or protein and and some essential
minerals they get that from these wet
Meadows so even though santel cranes are
doing well they of course face threats
just like every other species that the
number one threat region-wide for them
is the loss of wetland habitat and loss
of habitat in general we really need
these meadows and that we’re to a point
where we have to preserve the last few
percent that remain along
Glatt and elsewhere so we are working to
restore these prairies and also with
multiple objectives in mind to improve
habitat for trains but also these other
grassland and wetland Birds
with the cranes they can’t really shift
away from this river they really need
this river system these birds are
adapted to water and they need that and
water obviously is affected by climate
the jury is kind of out on how climate
change will affect Sandhills but we know
that their migration has advanced
they’re arriving about 30 days earlier
than they did 20 years ago that’s a very
rapid shift they can deal with all sorts
of changes but they need water and they
need wetlands at the end of the day I
think they’re resilient but I think that
it’s not really about them it’s about
this whole Great Plains water bird
ecosystem that is on the verge of
something very dangerous if we don’t
really put our foot down and stop it so
just because the cranes are abundant it
doesn’t mean they’re not fragile they
were over hunted and they lost a lot of
habitat going into the 1930s and the
u.s. actually legislated to protect them
and other native birds sandhill cranes
can be hunted they in fact are hunted in
almost all states except Nebraska where
we are now but it’s always under strict
conditions so I think the the success of
these birds is a combination of their
own natural resilience and also the fact
that humans have acted to to help them
they’re a symbol of health because of
their own success on their own terms and
they also symbolize what humans can
achieve when we work together their
[Music] you
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