Sandhill cranes taking flight over the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska, USA

© Diana Robinson Photography/Getty Image

Sandhill cranes fly the Platte. A rest stop for the birds

Every year, from February to April, 80 per cent of North America’s sandhill crane population stops in Nebraska to eat and rest before finishing their lengthy migration to the northern reaches of Canada, Alaska and even Siberia. Tourists flock (sorry) to places such as Kearney in the US state of Nebraska, seen in our photo today, to watch this spectacle. Some half a million cranes stop to wade through the shallow braids of the Platte River in the valley here, feasting on crop residue from the many corn and grain fields in the area.