Each spring, roughly one million sandhill cranes, the largest gathering of cranes anywhere in the world, gather in the Platte River Valley of south-central Nebraska to rest and refuel for several weeks while on an epic several thousand mile journey through the heart of the Great Plains from wintering grounds as far south as Mexico to nesting grounds as far north as Alaska and even Siberia.
Each night on the Platte, thousands of cranes descend to the roost at sunset to rest on the shallow braided channels of the river where they find safety and sanctuary. Sometimes their roost looks like a gray blanket rolled out along the river as far as the eye can see. At sunrise, they leave the river, sometimes en masse like a huge rolling wave, to wing their way to nearby cropfields to feed on waste grain left from previous fall’s harvest, or to secluded wet meadows and grasslands where they get their proteins. There they also dance, chase and cavort with one another before returning again to the river, often against a fiery Nebraska sunset. During this daily rhythm the photographic opportunities are endless.
Cranes are special anywhere you find them, but here on the Platte in spring is one of the biggest rock concerts in the bird world. And as magnificent as the sight is, it is the cacophony of sound that lingers.
As a lifelong Nebraskan, I have experienced the crane migration for decades, yet every time is new, magical and different. In fact, for me personally missing March with cranes on the Platte would be like missing Christmas, and I know I’m not the only one that feels that way.
Cranes are among the most ancient of birds, mark time in our lives, and connect us in one big community across space and time. Through our photographs, shared experiences and stories, we help cranes by inspiring conservation efforts to protect rivers, wetlands, and grasslands habitats they need to thrive far into the future. And we help ourselves and our own future, because we depend on these same habitats too.
Come join us in true “flyover country” and experience the magic with camera in hand.
Michael Forsberg
Michael Forsberg is a Nebraskan whose 30-year career as a photographer and conservationist has been dedicated to wildlife and conservation stories in North America’s Great Plains, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth. His images have been featured in publications including Audubon, National Geographic, Nature Conservancy, and Sierra magazines. His fine art prints are in public and private collections, and his solo exhibitions have traveled nationwide.
In 2017, Mike received the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography from the Sierra Club in Washington, DC, and the Environmental Impact Award from the North American Nature Photography Association. Also, in 2017, his image of sandhill cranes on the Platte River was selected to illustrate USPS’s Forever stamp celebrating Nebraska’s 150 years of Statehood. In 2000, his photograph of a Nebraska tallgrass prairie was issued as an international airmail stamp in the United States Postal Service’s American Scenes Series. In 2020, Mike received the J. Sherwood Chalmers Medal from The Garden Club of America.
Mike is the author and photographer of On Ancient Wings – The Sandhill Cranes of North America, self-published in 2005, Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2009 and Into Whooperland – A photographer’s journey with whooping cranes, self-published in 2024. He was featured in the Nebraska Public Media documentary Crane Song and co-produced Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, based on his book of the same title, released on PBS in 2013.
In 2011, Mike co-founded Platte Basin Timelapse (PBT) in partnership with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Michael Farrell Photography and Fine Art. Today, it is a conservation storytelling project that informs scientific research, builds educational content, and tells stories of a Great Plains watershed in motion. The documentary Follow the Water, based on the project and Mike’s traverse across the Platte Basin watershed, was released on PBS nationally in 2019.
Mike is a faculty member in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a Fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Daugherty Water for Food Institute, a member of The Photo Society, and a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.
