A Central Park Birder Experiences the Nebraska Crane Migration
From: Deborah Van Fleet
Length: 00:02:51
Dorothy Moulton was among thousands who visited south central Nebraska recently to witness the annual migration of as many as half a million sandhill cranes. They "stage" in an 80-mile stretch of the Platte River to regain some of the weight they've lost over the winter before continuing their trek north to Canada and, for some,as far as Siberia. Moulton shares her reaction to this wildlife phenomenon, which many feel is one of the two most spectacular wildlife migration spectacles in the US -- the other being the caribou migration in Alaska. Also interviewed is Kent Skaggs, Office Manager at the Audubon Society's Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon Nebraska. The piece concludes with a snippet of the a thousand or more cranes raising up when I came upon them cleaning up a field of corn stubble left from last fall's harvest.
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Piece Description
Dorothy Moulton was among thousands who visited south central Nebraska recently to witness the annual migration of as many as half a million sandhill cranes. They "stage" in an 80-mile stretch of the Platte River to regain some of the weight they've lost over the winter before continuing their trek north to Canada and, for some,as far as Siberia. Moulton shares her reaction to this wildlife phenomenon, which many feel is one of the two most spectacular wildlife migration spectacles in the US -- the other being the caribou migration in Alaska. Also interviewed is Kent Skaggs, Office Manager at the Audubon Society's Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon Nebraska. The piece concludes with a snippet of the a thousand or more cranes raising up when I came upon them cleaning up a field of corn stubble left from last fall's harvest.
Broadcast History
Two Free-lance pieces on NPR summer of '03 about College World Series. Free-lancer for Nebraska Public Radio in 1990s.
Announcer-Host-Producer at KIOS-FM in Omaha, NE 1980s-1990s and Morning Edition Host 2005-2006.
Transcript
Intro-- crane sounds for 10 seconds.
"I was in Costa Rica, at a gift shop, and overhead two women talking about birding. And one of them said the most spectactular birding experience she had ever had was in Nebraska, for the sandhill cranes." (Dorothy Moulton)
Narrator: Dorothy Moulton usually does her bird-watching in New York City's Central Park, but she recently took in the annual migration of the sandhill cranes during their stopover in the Platte River Valley in south central Nebraska near Kearney. Moulton divided her week between crane programs sponsored by two national organizations -- the Audubon Society at their Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon, Nebraska, and the Elderhostel Program, about 20 miles away at Pioneer Village in Minden.
Moulton: To see them all come in, a few at a time, sometimes hundreds at a time, and then settle on the river, squawking, (chuckles), and...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Brief "crane sounds" for 10 seconds at start, 5 seconds at end of program.
Host intro suggestion. Now, only a few "bachelor" sandhill cranes remain in the Platte River Valley of Nebraska, the rest of the hundreds of thousands of recent visitors have moved on in their northward migration, to be replaced by the "Whoopers" that stay through April. This year New York City resident Dorothy Moulton took in the Nebraska sandhill crane migration and discovered what many others have been awed by.
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