The Cranes Are Back, and They Largely Dodged Bird Flu

It's crane season in Nebraska, the time of year when hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes descend on the Platte River as part of their annual migration north. And as Smithsonian Magazine reports, this year's flock appears to be robust—and to have largely dodged bird flu, which had been a particular concern this year. The count has been strong, with officials logging more than 700,000 cranes in the most recent survey in the Central Platte River Valley, per the nonprofit CraneTrust.org.

"Sandhill cranes have shown us that they've been super resilient to lots of different things that we've thrown at them," wildlife biologist Bethany Ostrom of the Crane Trust tells Nebraska Public Media. The season peaks from mid-March to early April, and Courthouse News Service (which has a niche for science stories) explains why the wide and shallow Platte River is such a perfect spot for the birds—and for the flocks of tourists with binoculars who follow them. (More Nebraska stories.)