Thousands of Cranes Take Flight in One of Earth's Last Great Migrations | National Geographic

Around 600000 Sandhill cranes flock to Nebraska’s Central Platte River Valley each spring in one of the world’s largest and oldest remaining bird migrations.
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There the cranes thrive on corn, the most abundant local food source. The species is incredibly resilient, but they face a loss of wetland habitat and the effects of climate change - so their resilience cannot be taken for granted.
Read more about the annual sandhill crane migration in "This Is What One of the Last Great Migrations Looks Like."
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Thousands of Cranes Take Flight in One of Earth's Last Great Migrations | National Geographic
• Thousands of Cranes Ta...
National Geographic
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[@NatGeo]

Sandhill cranes have been making this great migration for at least 10,000 years. What are your thoughts on seeing these birds in action?

[@72marshflower15]

National Geographic my thoughts are that Biodiversity is the best technology... ✨🌏✨ and that true pro life means ALL life... course, this is what i know... not just think...

[@MANISHPATEL-ed3uk]

Congratulations for 8 m subs !!! Such a big family😊😊

[@emmanuelbbartolini945]

A stunning sight!! I hope they (and all wildlife) get all the necessary protection they need in order to survive and thrive...

[@awt1989]

i live here in central nebraska; and the noise they make flying above is just incredible.. i see why my grandma verna loved them SANDHILL CRANES! ....i live in North Platte.. where was this filmed?

[@gilbertranch1906]

We have a huge rice field across the road from our ranch near Winnie, TX. What a wonderful treat to see thousands of them dancing in the field at dusk. So beautiful.

[@anniebillman997]

Four years ago, I got to experience the joy of the Great Sandhill Crane Migration on the Platte River. I absolutely loved it!

[@imsophiehey4506]

I drove 20 minutes to go see the cranes here in Nebraska today! Thank you for documenting such a magnificent phenomenon

[@biswanathroy6652]

This beauty is like a haven.

[@lifeyang2]

I use to be a truck driver traveling the I-80 from California to the East coast and back. I remember the incredible Sandhill cranes in Nebraska. What a magnificent sight to behold.

[@williamstubbs779]

Phenomenal miracle of nature!

[@Loweredexpectationss]

I love hearing the cranes! The sound from so many birds flying over your head is incredible !

[@NatGeo]

It's a fantastic sound to hear, even just through a video. It must be even more amazing to hear in person!

[@jamesbentonticer4706]

I'm pretty sure their call is the most beautiful sound on the Earth.

[@rooteddwellings]

I just heard hundreds of them TODAY, the only bird I’ll hunt to eat and probably due it once. First and last time I hunt a non invasive animal, now I’ll donate to cranes that need help. Cranes are awesome creatures and I experienced that today.

[@clemvideoproductions909]

I've lived in an area where I see cranes pretty much daily and this is news to me. Never knew any of this until I decided to search for their migration habits after seeing hundreds of these things in a field here in Indiana. I had no idea they migrated together like this

[@Ethan-uo4fr]

You should check our Jasper Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area in NE Indiana if you haven't had the chance yet. It's like the Platte River but at a smaller scale :) still pretty cool.

[@MANISHPATEL-ed3uk]

Congratulations for 8M subs !!!! Such a big family

[@AzlianaLyana]

Siberia is a long way to go from there. Hope they make it safely to their destination. Thanks for sharing National Geographic.

[@sidensvans67]

Wonderful birds , elegant and beautiful .

[@jahidhasan-od5ke]

the camera took a heaven shoys!! amazing ♥

[@mashroom_]

I hate when I'm at the construction site and our crane suddenly decides to migrate to Siberia

[@ryzbeats5535]

this made me laugh so hard :))

[@Natashahoneypot]

Even when you are in it?

[@eepanusstar5940]

lol

[@richallenxbox1976]

Different kind of Crane, idiot.

[@x-sag3272]

@@richallenxbox1976 🤏🧠 👍😔

[@RS-ti4ys]

Relaxing to watch and their sound ❤️

[@PD-we8vf]

Have you seen it in person? Not so relax.

[@diannebohaichuk8042]

This is so amazing! great video

[@maidtoordr]

Beautiful just beautiful

[@mohammadhatim571]

Crane is gift of nature Crane lover from pakistan

[@tacotuesday5842]

I think I would be awesome if someone was to put a GoPro on a couple of them and capture their trip from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Siberia

[@raghavendradesai1845]

Best episode continue show 🙏

[@silverinium]

It would be my dream to do cinematography like this ❤️

[@forceev6695]

Beautiful Music and Video❤

[@brinlogie4598]

I saw one today in a creek in harleysville Pa!!!

[@jameyevans29]

I see flocks of these birds twice a year fly over northwest GA. Its an amazing thing

[@katiekat4457]

You don’t hunt them in Florida. The are highly protected here. You’re not even allowed to feed them or interact with them. Florida wildlife police take them extremely serious and so do the people in florida.

[@johnnyaingel5753]

They are flying right over as I type this on March 5 of 2020 this morning I always hear them year after year and than the rest of god's creatures showing up around me as well I love it God bless

[@TwiPrime]

Beautiful dance at 2:40.

[@Sofia09128]

I saw them day on 28sep was so beautiful

[@heyimamaker]

Incredible, I just saw about 1000 of them fly over.

[@CranesBirds]

Very very good waiting for more vidz

[@NewMessage]

Hard to believe they train them to build skyscrapers, eh?

[@elixxx]

If society could train me to act like the norm, then i guess anything is possible.

[@blackmamaessa]

New Message haha what a troll

[@stephanieann6622]

john smith Those are storks you're thinking of not cranes lol.

[@brittanyduty3075]

@@elixxx he is a troll

[@on1point282]

I got a good information and enjoying to watch vedio .❤️

[@soldierboymedia]

A friend and I rescued a Sandhill yesterday. It broke one of its wings landing into a barbwire cattle fence in farmland in New Mexico. We took it to the wildlife refuge center north of Santa Fee. Not sure if it survived too but I read a broken wing is a death sentence for birds.

[@kanank13]

any bird with a damaged wing and can'nt fly is a food for raptors and animals like foxes,coyotes.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

One of my neighbors back in Maryland used to raise Whooping Cranes back when they were really in trouble. Every year, they'd come back on their way to wherever they went. Long combinations of bands on their bodies to indicate which one was which.

[@neoz.9886]

Congrats on 8 million subscribers!

[@khansireducation1365]

Love with nature

[@AmherstFamBand]

cool video

[@luluwinke6581]

oh, thanks for this...

[@wyattkotule9893]

cool and i see lot of them

[@kigenusgmail]

It is Power of natural world.

[@MsCarolynellis]

Go to Grand Island NE to see this. I was there 2 years ago. My husband built the Popeye Chicken restaurant and I came up to visit for a week. Right on Platte River. It was rainy, cold, slushy snow and perfect.

[@laranjaghirga5058]

The sandhill cranes in my opinion are the convergently evolved pterosaur bird

[@gragor11]

Sandhill Cranes over head Sept 20, 2022 spiraling down into the harvested corn fields here on Vancouver Island during their fall migration to points further south.

[@amnesiai]

Saw this almost every year when I traveled through Nebraska..its a LOT of birds lol

[@NatGeo]

We're so excited that you got to see this in person! It must have been amazing to see thousands of these cranes all at once.

[@marcusdunham8896]

These cranes are screaming in my back yard right now, haha.

[@user-tr9wz9ui6n]

Pls take me with u.... Myself.. Thnkg always to see all this

[@peoswa-237]

Wish to visit Nebraska and see sandhill cranes

[@freeman7079]

Unfortunately, they are hunted here in Texas. Every November I go on a solo trip due west on the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River just to see these beautiful birds as they settle in to feed and drink before commencing further on their travels. I can typically make it about 7 or 8 miles upriver to set up camp for a few days. Pure solitude; very seldom do I see another person during the 3-5 days there. No gunshots, no ATVs, no drunken campfire socials. Just me and God, the nighttime coyote song, the morning mule and evening whitetail deer, and the cranes. There’s nothing else like it. Pure Southern Great Plains slowly transitioning into the notorious Llano Estacado. It’s a special thing, hearing these magnificent birds as they fly overhead or land near you.. if you’re lucky enough. Sedge after sedge for about two weeks straight in mid-November.

[@Boatingwego5]

Stay at Hummingbird Ranch Vacation Rental in SE Arizona with fantastic Sandhill Crane Winter Migration (Oct~ April), stunning 360 Mtn Views, 3 Ghost Towns, 3 National Parks, 14 award winning Wine Vineyards, Stargazing Observatory (added fee) and tons of local history with rich Apache history of Geronimo and Cochise. 520-265-3079.

[@Bian934]

الكرك جميل

[@olafguzdiol8606]

Bei uns in Deutschland gibt ganz bei uns in der Nähe auch gute Gelegenheit um Kraniche zu beobachten ❤❤❤

[@Natashahoneypot]

No to the music. It's like painting a lilly blue when you do that.

[@jaygnosticism11]

That woman said corn has only been around for 100 years. History channel has fallen a long way

[@yusufthegreat1232]

Jay Gnosticism no she meant that the cranes gave been using the corn for a hundred years because the industry boomed at that time because of farming machines

[@paulp1123]

I see them every year at my cabin, they once landed in a pond just below my cabin and we watched thousands of them for a day, gold rush tv show dried the pond up and never seen them land there again

[@paulp1123]

Looked like a tornado of birds on the pond was amazing

[@georginacox7292]

Can't you do rewilding UK

[@almostliterally593]

Respect the avian dinosaurs!

[@erikbjornson6496]

cool covey of hungarian partridge at 2"30

[@johnortmann3098]

Greater prairie chickens.

[@asmatniazi7942]

❤

[@deafmusician2]

You can almost hear hundreds of 'BONK' "Sorry!"

[@chrisw422]

Oldest Avian species on Earth.

[@Lelandphotography]

Corn has been around for 10,000 years not a 100 years.

[@hinduerenyeager]

👌👌👌👌

[@TheWizardGamez]

2:48 NO, corn has existed in the americas for a while. it was the staple grain of the americas. While most evidence points to it being most used in southern mexico and the andes, it still existed. Sure it may not have been readily accessible in the plains, but these birds fly at least as far as southern/coastal texas which was known to have some native tribes which farmed corn.

[@tmthyha]

I believe she means 100 years ago the birds started eating the corn due to the advent of the gas powered tractor in Nebraska.

[@christineeckersley4505]

For those few that might…..don’t hunt them

[@hearttcar6453]

👍👌

[@jamesbentonticer4706]

If I saw someone kill one of these birds I swear I would fight them.

[@MsCarolynellis]

10’s of millions of years? Bologna!!!

[@liaqatali9709]

🎩 😁 👕👍Great! 👖

[@echolot]

We Crane boys... sure know how to marry.

[@primalrage3219]

Prepare for predation by golden eagles

[@PD-we8vf]

We can only hope they would come back and grab that ribeye in the sky!

[@ElloKyoko2]

she said corn wasnt around 100 years ago??

[@TheFibrewire]

who are these 14 people who disliked this?

[@lglp3]

When it's saying the Gulf Coast is it referring to the Gulf of Mexico

[@katiekat4457]

lglp3 idk but i live on the gulf coast of Florida and we have many, many sandhill cranes but I believe ours stay here all year round and have their babies grow up here. There might be another area in Florida where the migrating ones go. I live between Tampa and Sarasota. I’m really sure all the ones we have right here are native. We do get a lot of migrating ducks though.

[@user-uf8zq4yd6p]

Here amjad 😅

[@christiann9961]

Sorry, This is not a Mothman

[@anwarmithuanwar5170]

Saiberia to Pakistan migration monthe of september🇵🇰

[@Nasirsajjadbaloch]

anybody here experts of migratory birds which come in pakistan

[@marieconstant6452]

CA ANCELOT SL CHERCHER NAN SIBIY?HEY

[@dennyregova76]

50th Like BTW

[@harambenights1051]

Climate change killed my uncle.

[@DearHumanity]

Shame 95% of their diet now is US GMO Corn, surprised they are still alive!

[@PD-we8vf]

That is only part of this particular flocks diet for 1-2 weeks. Semantics makes all the difference from you being an idiot and not.

[@mirovish1862]

на русский плиз

[@silentwater6617]

Only shortfall (sorry I just had to say it) is her reference that corn has only "been around for a hundred years"

[@Skullking489]

It's only been around a hundred years since corn has been cultivated to a point where the scraps we leave behind can be considered a food source for the cranes.

[@tristunalekzander5608]

Corn looks completely different now than it did when American Indians grew it. Did you know that corn is a _grain?_ We've breed it to be more like a fruit. In fact, it's sugar content is so high it should actually be avoided for healthy eating.

[@72marshflower15]

Zsolt E Silent Water 100 since there was enough for cranes... you're no better than the racism you probably claim to decry..

[@PD-we8vf]

Anthony Herrera were you around 200 years ago to check on how many corn scraps were left?

[@PD-we8vf]

Tristun Alekzander it was called maize

[@klcpca]

She said Sandhill Cranes are hunted... for what purpose??? Feathers??? I don't think they would be eaten.... just wondering....

[@ascetic3312]

Well, pretty much anything organic can be eaten (not that it's all going to be healthy to eat, mind you, but it's a bird, and if people can eat chickens, they can eat cranes). Nevertheless,they're likely hunted for "sport." In other words, hunted to fill idiotic egos of douche bags, but that last part is just my opinion.

[@klcpca]

I guess what you're saying is true.... just would never think of eating a crane like a chicken!!! Very possible though! I have no issue at all with hunting for food but I despise "sport" hunting!!!! Such a waste of a beautiful animal...

[@tiarabrown9291]

My dad said they are actually called "ribeye in the sky" in states where they are hunted. So people definitely eat them. It wouldn't probably be all that different from eating a goose.

[@edfrawley4944]

Sandhills are actually called the "ribeye of the sky" Their breastmeat like geese and ducks are red meat... high blood supply to flight muscles vs non flying birds that mostly run

[@PatrickAllen-ph9nb]

They’re delicious

[@lightinthedark6128]

Only ALLHA manage the world ..

[@brianlo164]

Ban recreational hunting of these beautiful birds in all states