Kearney’s Crane Migration

In mid-February through Mid-April every year, Kearney witnesses one of the more spectacular wildlife migrations on this planet, when over 600,000 lesser and greater Sandhill cranes descend upon the Platte River on their flight from southern USA and Mexico to the far north of Canada, Alaska and Siberia. Also, accompanying the Sandhill cranes are the 200 or so surviving Whooping cranes.

As the crane numbers increase each year, so do the people who come to view these magnificent birds. The cranes spend their day foraging in the nearby agricultural fields for tubers, grubs, rodents, small reptiles, earthworms, snails, amphibians and leftover corn from the fall harvest.

The National Audubon Society supplies the following information on Sandhill Cranes.
Cranes have been coming to what is now Nebraska for at least 9 million years, according to fossil records. The birds range from 3 to 4 feet in height, and weigh from 6 to 12 pounds, with a wingspan of 6 to 7 feet. Their lifespan is anywhere from 20 to 40 years. At night, they gather to sleep in 3 to 6 inches of water near the many sandbars of the Platte River, mainly along an 80 mile length of the river, centering near Kearney, Nebraska. As the water is often quite cold in February and March, they have the ability to constrict blood vessels in their webbed feet, which helps them to stay warm even in the icy cold waters. Cranes cannot roost in trees, due to the type of foot they have, and seek protection from predators by sleeping in the water. In flight, they normally fly at 25 to 35 mph, but with a good tail wind, have been clocked at 50 mph.

Our last hard frost was on my birthday (10 March), as compared to a normal last frost of 1 May, and the whole winter was much warmer than normal. This year, for the first time in known history, about 1,000 birds overwintered in Nebraska, rather than seek warmer climes in the south.

Besides the cranes, hundreds of thousands of snow geese and Ross’s geese add to the show. When they take flight, they almost obscure the sky. A Black Common Crane was sighted for the first time this spring. This crane is native to Asia, rather than North America. Must have made friends with some Sandhill cranes and joined their migration.

Each spring we look to the sky and see the vee of large flights of the cranes. Even at very high altitudes, one can hear their distinctive call. During the day, the flock spreads out a few miles on either bank of the Platte River. Just driving along, you will see hundreds or more at a time poking their beaks into the soil seeking nourishment. While in Nebraska, they put on a couple of pounds of fat reserves to carry them over the long flight ahead. At sunset, they rise from the fields and wing their way to the river, where they will spend the night.

This year, Elaine and I along with some good friends from Colorado, went to a viewing blind on the river in late afternoon to await the procession.





The Platte River is empty of birds when we arrive.




As the sun set, the cranes came in wave after wave, filling up every possible shallow spot of the river. We watched as they filled upriver spots. After a while, the cranes began landing right outside the blind. The sights and sounds were breathtaking.









I hope that this will get a few of you to come see the cranes (and us too) on their next visit. In late March, local communities host special events associated with the migration, known as Cranefest.

Texas 2012

Elaine & I enjoyed Texas last winter so much that we staged a return in January and February of 2012. I’ll not rehash the same topics as last year. After driving the 11 hours from Kearney to north Texas, we arranged a 3-day stay with Elaine’s brother Richard and his family in Colleyville, which is located between Dallas and Fort Worth. Thank you.

While there we took in the Dallas Art Museum. On special exhibit were the clothing designs of Jean Paul Gauthier. His clothing designs are unusual, to say the least; one of his main clients was Madonna. Mannequins clothed with his designs had holographic faces on many of them. They looked so real that I was at first unsure if they were human or not. A 3-dimensional effect appeared if you were looking at the model straight on. However, if you took a side view, the faces were completely flat. Unfortunately, photography was strictly forbidden for the special exhibit.

Fortunately, the restriction did not apply to the rest of the facility. Holdings included many items of historic interest. For example, this Etruscan helmet.

p. dallas art helmet


Famous and not so famous sculpture, glass work, paintings, furniture, etc. One sculpture looked very familiar, as it is the one that a 5-cent US postage stamp used as a model in the 1960s.



There were several paintings from the late 1700s and early 1800s; a few of them done by the Peale family of artists. This plantation bedroom shows how the wealthy lived in early Texas. The one painting is by Thomas Hart Benton (if memory serves me correctly).



After enjoying the hospitality for a few days, we drove for 9 hours to reach South Padre Island. We so liked it last year that instead of 2 weeks, we stayed for 5 weeks. We stayed at a different place than last year. The Inverness was right on the beach, all units have kitchen facilities, and views of the ocean.



One of the first things we did was to stock up our provisions. The special treat here is fresh shrimp and Rio Grande Valley red grapefruits. The nearby citrus orchards are laden with fruit. We like the Rio Red Grapefruits and picked a five-gallon bucket at nearby orchard - $7.00, and start each day with one - so delicious.



Just in case the weather was cool, like last winter, we were prepared. Elaine brought her sewing machine and materials for making quilt tops (called “piecing;” “quilting” is actually the sewing of the back and front together; where “piecing is cutting up the material into small scraps and then sewing them into a larger multi-colored design.) The weather was quite warm for most of the time, but Elaine loves her hobby and actually completed 4 quilt-tops during our stay in Texas. Here are 2 of them – pretty aren’t they?





I normally got up an hour or so before Elaine and spent many an hour selecting stamps on the Internet for my collection. Each day, when the weather was okay, we would spend an hour beach walking. This time of year, there are not many people on the beach, except on weekends. Of course, we were under the delusion that all this walking would result in some weight loss. That didn’t happen. In late afternoon, we would head to the hot pool and unheated swimming pool on the outside 3rd floor of the building. This is where you get to meet other retirees, swap stories and find out where to go and what to do in the area.

Within a 10-minute walk is a Sea Turtle Rescue facility. They gave a very good talk on sea turtle endangerment, and with conservation efforts, how they are slowly increasing populations. We saw four of the five species here, many with parts missing from predators, boats, nets, fishing line, etc. One was affixed with a prosthetic fin, much like the dolphin in the cleverly-named movie “Dolphin Tale.” The goal of this Center is to return injured animals to their natural habitat. One species, the Ridley, nests in this area and peak hatch is in June; guess it is quite a spectacle with thousands of baby turtles heading toward the sea.







The SPI Birding Center, within a 15 minute walk from our place, is another interesting place for an introduction on the area and migratory birdlife, alligators and other animals. We attended a Saturday AM lecture here entitled, “The Chemistry of the Laguna Madre” …a 600 sq mile hyper saline area which lies between Padre Island and the Texas mainland. It is home to many adaptive plants and animals. Birds viewed included pelicans, curlews, herons, spoonbills, ducks, egrets, etc.









and one lonely gator.



The Hilton Hotel hosted a Wildlife and Outdoor Exposition, which featured a raptor show with owls, falcons, hawks. Many of these species I have only seen in books. All were out of their cages and some flying around the room so we really got a good look at them.











There were also many sessions on all sorts of topics throughout the day…butterflies, photography, dolphins, and fishing on the Laguna Madre. I learned how to take a better photo in the photography session.

A boat tour of the Port of Brownsville sounded interesting. They bring all sizes of ships to this port for scrapping. We saw some rather large vessels (some Navy, one hospital ship) being disassembled. They strip everything off these vessels, then proceed to cut up the steel, which is then loaded onto barges and shipped off to who knows where (probably China).











Our tour guide said there is a nearby warehouse where one can purchase anything imaginable that is salvaged from these boats. Does anyone need a new anchor, a propeller or a 12-foot tall engine?





Additionally, we saw tug boats, barges, and many shrimp boats. This coastline used to boast 80% of the US shrimp catch, but government regulation has decreased that to around 20% today and much of the shrimp fleet is simply rusting away.











It was a very social day; beer was complimentary, sea birds and dolphins put on a nice show and the 30 or so of us, mainly Midwesterners and Canadians, just enjoyed the afternoon, followed by a shrimp dinner at what else but…the Shrimphaus at the Schlitterbahn.

Brownsville, Texas is right on the US-Mexican border. The downtown is quite run-down and has shop after shop of cheap plastic goods and clothing stores. It is definitely a Hispanic city, as we saw few blonde haired people. A redeeming factor of the city is the Gladys Porter Zoo, at which we spent a day.



Their specialty is antelopes of various types, many of them on the brink of extinction. They do have a captive breeding program that has been quite successful in saving and reintroducing species into their historic homes.

Addax



Arabian Oryx



Besia Oryx



Bongo



Bontebok



I hadn’t heard of most of them before this day. There are plenty of other animals, such as:

Lions



Tigers


and Bears



Oh no!

Almost lost Elaine to old salty



A great collection of birds.

Scarlet Ibis



Flamingos



Bald eagle



Cassowary



Emu



King vulture



Kookaburra



Maccaws





a mandarin duck –



what colors

a Peacock



and an 8 foot long Komodo Dragon,



and lots of other animals. The big news was the recent birth of a mountain gorilla. The mother was quite protective and let it be known that she wasn’t all that excited about having all those gawkers.



Our 5 weeks sped by and we headed for our next stay of 2 weeks on Canyon Lake, Texas. Canyon Lake is located near New Braunfels, which is between San Antonio and Austin. A six hour drive. Kingsville, Texas is the home of the King Ranch and was a stopping point along the way from South Padre Island to Canyon Lake. www.king-ranch.com



The ranch was founded in 1853 by Richard King and a partner who purchased a mere 15,500 acres of Texas scrubland.



The ranch and museum are open to visitors. King found an underground aquifer; this enabled his descendants to expand their holdings to over 825,000 acres in Texas, one of the largest ranches in the world. FYI, the largest ranch is the Anna Creek Station (that’s Aussie for ranch) in Australia with over 6,000,000 acres – wow. The King ranch once held more acres, which included the land on which the city of Kingsville sits. Today, its holdings include land in several states and foreign nations. During the Civil War, a trail crossing the ranch was a main route for cotton to avoid the coastal embargo, by going overland to Mexico and then onto Europe.

The ranch is divided into large sections, one for crops, mainly cotton; another for livestock (horses and cattle); another for hunting, and one for oil production – it is so nice to have producing oil wells on your ranch. Just like the George Ranch, see last year's blog, the King Ranch was heading toward financial difficulty during the Great Depression when oil was found on the property, effecting their rescue

We toured the livestock section and saw many of the San Gertrudis cattle, the first new breed of cattle in America came from crossing the Indian Brahman with the British shorthorn. The breed does especially well in hot and dry climes, such as Texas.





Their horse operation also has several claims to fame, with Assault being the only Texas horse to win the Triple Crown (1946). Another horse won the Kentucky Derby. They do pretty well on the ranch.



The family still owns and operates the ranch and lives in a very nice home.



Descendants and their families can stay on the ranch. So, if you are lucky enough to marry into the family, you can enjoy this historic ranch.

There is a very interesting King Ranch Museum in downtown Kingsville. It houses many artifacts from all eras of the ranch. No photos allowed.

The following two weeks were spent on Canyon Lake in a very comfortable resort.



Nearby is the lake, created by a huge earthen dam courteousy of the US Army Corps of Engineers.



Here’s the canyon





and here’s the lake.



Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed this area. By a bit of bad luck, one local entrepreneur discovered the footfalls of several of these ancient beasts. Why is that bad luck you ask? Well, he wanted to develop his property for a housing development, but he could not do that once these tracks were found by a contractor who was leveling the ground for the development. His bad luck is our good luck. To aid the tourist, some tracks have been painted.





Venturing further afield, we arrived at the Wimberly glassworks and were treated to a demonstration of how to make works of art from glass.



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While Waylon and Willie were not in attendance, we did wander to Luckenback, Texas, not much more than a general store and a dance hall – but made famous in Jerry Jeff Walker’s tribute in song.



The town of Fredericksburg is a must see place in the Hill Country. In 1846, 120 German immigrant families founded the town. Fredericksburg retains its German cultural heritage, in its shops and restaurant fare, which we enjoyed.



Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg in 1885. He had a distinguished career in the US Navy and was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in WWII. In his honor, Fredericksburg is the location of the Museum of the Pacific War. I spent two days in this museum (Elaine sought other attractions) immersing myself in history.



The museum traces the origins of the war back to rivalries between China and Japan in the 19th century and runs to the surrender of Japan in 1945. There are many unique artifacts, such as a hatch door from the USS Arizona (sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor), one of the midget submarines used in the same battle, and a host of other items







Meanwhile, Elaine took a walking tour of the town and learned of Sunday houses;



how the German settlers, led by Meusebach, made peace with the local natives, lead by chief Penatuka, and purchased the land that they lived on, they lived in peace for several years until others drove the natives away.



President Lyndon Baines Johnson was born and raised in the Hill country near Johnsonville. A tour of his ranch was a treat. It has the home in which he was born (rebuilt);



and his western white house home, which is open for tours; very interesting tour. No photos inside.



To complete the circle, LBJ and Lady Bird are at rest on the grounds of their beloved ranch.



We spent a few days in Austin, the capitol of the Lone Star State. To continue with the LBJ theme, we spent some time at the LBJ Presidential Museum on the campus of the University of Texas Longhorns. The Johnsons have endowed the museum in such a way to ensure that admission is free of charge.



No trip to Austin would be complete without seeing the state capitol and its grounds. Texas is called the Lone Star State in recognition of the fact that it once was an independent nation (1836-1845) and its national flag displayed the single star, as does its state flag. Everywhere in the capitol you see that lone star.



from the inside of the dome,



to floor murals,





and even the light fixtures in the house and senate chambers.



Within the senate chambers are portraits of famous Texans, to include Jim Bowie and David Crockett (he never was called Davy, that was a Walt Disney touch), both of whom died at the Alamo.





The grounds are immaculately kept and drenched in Texas history. Such as Mexican army canons captured in 1836, an Alamo memorial and a Confederacy memorial.







A day was spent at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. No photos, see thestoryofTexas,com in which we learned of the history and great variety of our second largest state in both area (Alaska #1) and population (California #1, New York now #3).

On Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) we enjoyed the sights of the entertainment district of Austin, complete with street bands and hordes of local police. Our evening ending enjoying music at “”Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar” on 6th street in Austin.

After leaving Canyon Lake, we returned to Colleyville for a couple of days before returning home to central Nebraska.

Thank you people of Texas for your warmth and hospitality that you extended to us during our stay.