Platte River, NE photographing Sandhill Cranes

I am thinking of traveling to Nebraska mid-march to take pics of Sandhill Cranes. Has anyone ever been there (Platte River)? Does anyone have suggestions as to where to go and/or anything special I should take. I have a Canon Rebel T3i and a ef70-300mm lens.

thanks for your input.

I have been there twice. We go to the Audubon Rowe Sanctuary. They have two kinds of blinds. One you can either reserve a spot at sunrise or sunset. I think they charge $40 per person. The two times we have gone was at sunrise. They take you to the blind well before sunrise. We were maybe 25 to 30 yards for 5 or 6 thousand cranes and watched them for around three hours before some eagles cleared the river. The other option is their photographer blinds. They are closer to the birds. You need to go to the blind in the late afternoon before the cranes start coming back to the river and stay there all night until they leave the river in the morning. If you Google Rowe Sanctuary their web site will give you all the details. It is one of the great wildlife experiences in North America. Well worth seeing and photographing. I have a 400mm lens and in their material they will tell you that is what you need. With a 300mm you will be able to get some good images, but probably not the frame filling images of a single bird. Another option is the Crane Trust and Visitor Center. They also have blinds on the river. Again Google Crane Trust Visitor Center and their web site will have all the info you need. It is well worth the trip.

I’ve been to the central flyway on the Platte several times over the last couple of years, both in the spring and fall. The spring migration is something all birders should experience at least once in their life. It is a truly unique experience. I went twice last spring, in early March and again at the end of March. The early visit I had a spot in one of the blinds at Rowe for sunset. Evenings are pretty cool as the cranes will start staging in fields across the river to the north and the sound of thousand’s flying overhead is magical, something that gets into your head and stays there. Then at some point a few brave cranes will fly unto a sand bar in the middle of the river and within minutes they all converge unto the river. Unfortunately they do that on their own schedule and as in my case came in well after sunset so photographic opportunities were nil. But it was still worth the experience. This March I have a spot reserved in one of the blinds for sunrise. If you’d be traveling from a fair distance I’d recommend reserving both a sunrise and sunset spot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. You can fill your day in between driving the county roads just to the south of the river and photograph the cranes feeding and dancing in the fields. I used a 70-300mm last year and was disappointed in most of the shots I took, just not quite enough reach. But again I was not in a river blind at sunrise where perhaps the birds will be a little closer. This spring I’ll take a new 300mm prime with a 1.4TC.

I was there last year. I used a 500mm and 'got some really nice shots from the Rowe blind in the morning. We tried evening fly in at one of the local parks that's supposed to be good, but the birds didn't arrive until too late. If you have a video camera or sound recorder-take it. The noise is half the fun. There are some other interesting birding areas to the south of the Platte as well. If I had it to do again (and I may) I'd take at least three days. I always find that it takes me a couple of days to figure out the location before I get much that's really good.

If you don't have a 500mm, I'd strongly recommend renting one for the excursion, though a 300 with a 1.4TC should work too. If I recall correctly I left the TC off that day and used the 500 on my 1DIV which only has a 1.3 crop factor instead of the 1.6 of most of Canon's digital cameras.

Have fun.