Courtney Bierman reports on the 2021 sandhill crane tourism season and accompanying pandemic restrictions.
With spring approaching, the sandhill cranes are making their way to breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska. Six-hundred-thousand of them will make their famous pit stop in Nebraska along the Platte River. Their gathering is a sight to behold.
Dusty Barner owns outdoor adventure outfitter Dusty Trails in North Platte. He founded the business about 15 years ago to provide activities like horseback riding and river tubing.
“The nighttime, in the blind, it's almost a religious experience," Barner says. "You're sitting in there, and it's dark, and it's quiet. And just the sound and the vast numbers. I mean, it just — it feels like you are sitting in the hand of God right there.”