by Bethany Ostrom | Mar 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
Week 6 Aerial Sandhill Crane Survey Hey all,On March 19 th we estimated there are at least 400,000 +/- 49,000 Sandhill Cranes in the Central Platte River Valley. A few variables during the survey likely contributed to a lower estimate than anticipated. While this...
by Bethany Ostrom | Mar 7, 2026 | Uncategorized
Hey all, After a long foggy week, we counted 402,000 +/- 40,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton, Nebraska, this morning (March 7 th ). This is above average for this time of year and, much like the last count (week 2), the numbers are closer to next week’s...
by Bethany Ostrom | Feb 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
Hey all, Happy crane season! On Monday the 23 rd of February we estimated 115,000 +/- 6,000 Sandhill Cranes between Chapman and Overton, NE, along the Platte River. On February 12 th, we estimated around 50,000 cranes in the area. These numbers are definitely on the...
by Fellow | Feb 12, 2026 | Uncategorized
We have monitored our Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) lek every year since 2015, from mid-January to late May. There are three different ways that we monitor the lek: audio recorders, camera traps, and scan sampling. We place the audio recorder,...
by Bethany Ostrom | Jan 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Hey all! It’s January 22, 2026, and we still have 35,000 +/- 5,000 Sandhill Cranes on the Platte River! We completed our last winter survey for the 2025/2026 winter season Wednesday morning (Jan 21 st ). Between all of our surveys this winter we’ve had nearly the same...
by William Hamson | Jan 14, 2026 | Uncategorized
This past September the Nebraska Wildlife Rehab (NWR) reached out to the Crane Trust Science team to see if we would be interested in assisting with the soft release of a juvenile female North American river otter that was found in Grand Island, NE. She was found as...
