Back from the prairies NDR (Picture intensive)

Brad Bortner

Brad Bortner

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My wife and I decided to pack up the trailer and escape COVID confinement in a safe manner and head to Nebraska to see the sandhill cranes on the Platte and see some dancing prairie grouse. I've been too busy to edit or make these photos pretty in any way or even sort through the 500-600 images. Great 10 day trip through the heartland. I wish I could post the videos or sound files that go along with these birds. My narrative will in no way match the sights and sounds of the trip or be presented with the skill of some of the other story tellers on this site.



We reversed Lewis and Clark's route or the Oregon Trail by leaving rainy Washington and traveling up the Columbia through the Columbia Gorge, over the snowy Blue Mountains and on to the Snake River plain. After camping along the Snake we proceeded south and east through Utah to windy Wyoming which was just recovering from 30+ inches of snow. But we pulled out of the snow near Kearney, Nebraska. Our first stop was the prairie chicken leks. These are really silly birds with a spectacular display. Boy they are noisy when you are 30 feet away from the lek. The other name for them is pinnated grouse and you can see why (those erect feathers are called pinnae cuz they look like ear flaps).

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My obligatory bison photo from the land they used to roam. I was glad for the fence.
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Then we headed to the river that is too thick to drink and too thin to plow. Boy the sandhill cranes just love the spot especially with the nearby cornfields. The official estimate the time was somewhere around 500-600,000 between Kearny and Grand Island but they could be off by 50-100%. Even fly-ins and morning fly-offs were amazing and noisy.
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Then we headed off to the Sandhills to see sharptail grouse do their silly dance. They are in thicker cover and much harder to photograph than prairie chickens. Their dance is much quicker and quieter than the chickens but just as elaborate in its own way.
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Well then we started to take the Oregon Trail back home. We knew the grandkids were studying the Trail so we included a few shots along the way.View attachment IMG_3180.JPG

Once we got past the Fort Bridger cutoff we decided on a detour tin order to see another spectacle or two. Steve Steffy, wanna go for a hike?

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The elk were still on the National Elk Refuge but looking like they were getting ready to head up into Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Looked like the North American version of the Seregeti.

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It was a great trip. We saw lots of ducks, geese and trumpeter swans throughout the Sandhills of Nebraska and lower elevations of Wyoming but didn't really take many photos of them. Hope you enjoy the photos.

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Those are great photos Brad, it looks like you are spending your retirement properly. Love the really early spring photos of the landscape and wildlife. Great stuff!!!!!!!
 
Good morning, Brad~


We are thoroughly savoring our homebound Spring - but I envy you your proximity to all of those great areas. Your trip was certainly time well-spent. I will have to be content with our amorous Longbeards hereabouts.


All the best,


SJS





 
Good morning Brad,

As said looks like you are adapting to retirement. Thanks for sharing some of your photos.

Yes the South Platte around Kearney to Grand Island, looks nothing like the trout water it is, west of Florissant, Colorado. Mile wide and a foot deep is true of both the Mississippi and the South Platte.

Glad you had a safe and enjoyable trip.
 
Boy, that was like taking a breath of newly formed fresh air, especially if you have been cooped up a while! Thank you so much for taking the time to show us your splendid photos. I did appreciate your telling us about these special moments embedded in time speaking specifically of being in Nebraska at that time.

Prior to you seeing those hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes, I was out by our kennel checking the Labradors when I witnessed multiple large flocks of sandhill cranes, crying with that excitement that only Springtime can bring to reverse migrating birds who are ready to travel north. Above me at least 5,000 sandhill cranes, both greaters and lessers, were riding thermals up to just that special spot where southerly winds helped them fly towards Colorado and Kansas. As you mentioned, Brad, you can never forget the sounds that these birds do make. One of the reasons being that no matter how great your eyesight is, I can guarantee that you will hear the birds long before you will ever see them coming or going.

Those prairie chickens were captured at that magic "golden hour". Photographers can't help but smile when being there right at that very moment. Most of us might not know that in actuality, that hours are based on a mere handful or two of minutes! As was already mentioned, you captured those moments perfectly.

Thanks so much for this post, Brad.
Al
 
I stopped by the Rainwater basin to observe the sandhill concentrations in early April for two days to wander around, prior driving down to Humboldt, Kansas to pick Flynn.. The one thing i wasn't prepared for was the quail numbers, bobwhites calling in early morning as the sun burns the dew off was something I hadn't heard or seen since I was a kid...very refreshing reminder of my youth My wife doesn't appreciated the northern prairie, but she grew up on the shore of the Great Lakes.
 
That looks like an outstanding trip! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Watching prairie chickens dance and sharptails dance are another bucket list thing for me.

I need to get back out to WA soon for a trip back to the Blue Mountains.

Looking at your pictures made my wandering feet even itchier.
 
Brad,

I think those birds look like their pumped up so much that their about to pop*

They turn their collar feathers up like that because it gets chilly out there and the collar helps keep the chill out.


Great shots...
 
Brad, thanks for bringing us along through your pictures. Flat landers like me long to see mountains and terrain like that.

Did you see many turkeys in Nebraska? Had some plans changed on going to Wyoming, so was looking to maybe do a fall turkey hunt out there way later this year.
 
Thanks everyone. Glad you enjoyed the photos. It was a good way to break the winter doldrums.

Ben, we saw a few. But the best was a big gobbler that strolled through one campground (Nebraska has a bunch of nice parks and recreation area campgrounds). I saw the gobbler go in the brush and took my 9 month old pointing lab pup over to the juniper climb where it was hiding out. We he went downwind around that bush he stopped dead in his tracks. Then I flushed the bird and the pup was looking pretty startled to see that big guy come out of that bush.
 
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