US Fish & Wildlife Service
Date of this Version
February 2006
Abstract
The aerial transect portion of the coordinated spring survey of mid-continent sandhill cranes was conducted on 23 March in Nebraska’s Platte and North Platte River valleys. The 2005 photo corrected aerial estimate was 491,900 birds. Outside the traditional aerial transect portion, observers utilized both ground and air coverage during the period 5 – 25 March. From this region, observers in the Official Survey Area (OSA) of Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas reported an additional 38,700 cranes. The 2005 total estimate (530,600) increased 18% since 2004 and is the fourth highest in twenty-four years of comparable figures. The current three-year average (2003 - 2005), from photo corrected aerial transects only, is 422,100.