Leaving Nebraska Soapbox

Leaving Nebraska
Our journey’s first chapter is ending as we prepare to leave Nebraska.... Erv and I arrived at Rowe Sanctuary Valentines Day and now, a month later, depart on the Ides of March. Our arrival coincided with the first of the migrating Sandhill cranes and we leave as their numbers have reached 2-300,000. Before their migration ends, more than a half million Sandhills will pass through, resting and fortifying themselves for the arduous journey and biophysical demands of egg laying. During their 3-4 week stay in this staging area along the river, each crane will have gained about 20% of their total body weight eating scrap corn from farm fields and a variety of crustaceans, frogs, worms, plant tubers, etc. in the nearby wetlands. Their numbers will dwindle in April and then silence returns to the Platte River as all move on to their nesting grounds in northern Canada, Alaska and across the Bering Straight into Siberia. Some will journey 6,ooo miles! It has been a remarkable four weeks for us, learning/ honing skills as an interpretive guides, seeing and hearing the flocks of millions of ducks and geese as well as cranes, and meeting a variety of interesting people. Some acquaintances have developed into friendships and the “witnessing” of these magnificent birds, whose history as a species far predates our own, has developed into awe. I must admit to feeling a bit nostalgic upon leaving.

Our last night was spent guiding a group of 28 to observe the cranes as they returned to the river to roost after a day of foraging. The group included several Nebraskans who well represent the hospitality of their state, a family from Germany, four international students participating in an indigenous people’s writing seminar including two in native dress from Colombia and a poetry professor from New York, plus a delightful woman who is a US expatriate living in Costa Rica and, as he described himself, a “recovering lawyer” who also works for the State Department on environmental issues and pursues his passion of photography. He just returned from photographing mammals in Yellowstone and will travel to both Africa and Alaska later this year. And these are just a sampling! As guides for the group, we first provided a brief overview of “blind” etiquette and of the Sandhill Cranes, their migration, how this area provides ideal habitat for their migratory “staging” and how Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary works to procure, manage and protect habitat and to provide education to support and preserve this ancient species. We then led them about 1/4 mile to Stevie’s blind and got everyone settled in with cameras an binoculars, etc. at the numerous windows. We chat, answer questions and savor the few ducks and geese and deer in sight along the far river bank, then everyone quiets as the flocks of birds begin to drift up and down the river and fill the sky, thousands silhouetted against the glowing sunset which has also turned the river into molten gold. Faces reflect awe and rapture taking in the return to roost which is millions of years old. To some it is like witnessing creation, to others it is an awakening of the senses as the cold evening air is filled with the subtle river smells and the sights and sounds of thousands of cranes and geese. In another “blind,” a man who is literally blind has come to savor the amazing auditory experience. It is impossible to describe it fully. We felt so grateful for this last opportunity and the cranes rewarded us with their roosting closer to the blind than any previous night. We were given front row seats for their courtship dancing and pair bonding (cranes live an average of 25 years and mate for life!) The “colts” - offspring from last year’s nesting - add their whistling and cracking voices and spontaneous leaps mimicking their elders. This, and the migratory path to nesting areas, is the last lesson in the family group as they will be progressively on their own as their parents respond to the biological urge to reproduce. The breed’s communication skills and family bonds (know of any other birds who keep their young with them for a year plus?) has contributed to their centuries of adaptation and survival.

Enough - you can tell these birds have captured both my curiosity and my heart! As we leave, however, I also want to remark on two events that provided bookends for this experience. The first was a program by author/speaker Louve (Last Child in the Woods) who reminded us of our childhood links with nature in our neighborhoods and detailed the critical psychological and physiological benefits of children spending time in nature, plus the importance to our planet of having children, it’s future stewards, living in connection with it. The last was the keynote program of the Rivers and Wildlife Conf. our last night. B , Canadian artist, author (Think Like A Mountain), and speaker who delineated the urgent need for a shift in personal and public philosophy from consumerism and increasing industrialization of farming, forestry and fishing, to valuing of our interdependency with the environment and meaningful work for individuals. He, as well, spoke of the necessity of reconnecting children with nature. Food for thought.