A male prairie chicken in full breeding display at Calamus Outfitters, Loup County, in the Nebraska Sandhills. Loup County is in the Lower Loup Natural Resources District. Photo by Alan Bartels
Nebraska is known worldwide for the spring migration of sandhill cranes. More than one million of the birds spend part of that season in the Platte River Valley, the largest gathering of any crane species on Earth. Along with the birds are a flock of birders and nature enthusiasts that migrate to Central Nebraska to see the spectacle. They infuse millions of dollars into our state’s economy, but m…