Rowe Sanctuary — Attraction in Nebraska

I've been here twice since the beginning of the year, and both were great fun. We visited back in March for the crane migration, and we were able to hike the trails and see a few cranes during the day. We saw thousands in the fields along the way there, too. Amazing experience, I recommend it to anybody who wants to see the sandhill crane migration.

The second time was just yesterday. They are gearing up for a remodel, so things looked a little sparse in the gift shop, but the lady running things was so kind. She answered our questions and really engaged with the kids. 10/10, lovely person who made our visit special.

We took the trail by the river this time since it was closed on our last visit so as not to disturb the birds. It was lovely seeing how much the river had changed and what animals were around. The restored Prarie was beautiful to see and was more green than when we visited before. Loved seeing it both times; really makes you appreciate what the pioneers went through on their wagons.

This visit, the only animal I was able to photograph was a rabbit, but the kids were delighted by it.

Be warned, there are ticks. We found several on ourselves and the kids, so make sure to do a tick check before you leave...

The Sandhills cranes viewing experience was great! It could have been 5 star but our volunteer guides could have been so much better. We arrived early for the evening tour and the other groups had guides sharing information with their group. One of our guides spoke so quietly nobody could hear what she said and the other kept mumbling nonstop about herself and then giggled at her own nonsense talk. It was explained they didn’t want to tell us anything until everyone was there and we had folks running late. While we were waiting for the latecomers the quiet talker kept looking us over critically verbalizing disapproval of our cool weather gear. We had dressed as warmly as we could and we had no options available to obtain additional warm gear. It was the first day tour so hopefully volunteers get some training. You’re missing an opportunity to provide information to a group that are paying to learn...

We had a good visit with Sonceyrae, and a nice walk out the west trails, where we saw some very enjoyable sights. From the boardwalk at the first viewing building we watched a very tiny fawn standing in the water's edge drinking and looking around for quite a while, after Mama Doe ran away. We also saw newly hatched swallows near the door of the blind, their eyes still closed, poking their heads up above their nest. We didn't get as close as it looks, I cropped the photo for this close-up. There were so many milkweeds everywhere covered in beautiful pink blooms, and the prickly pears were in full flowering glory. Lots of birds, of course!

They're beginning a year-long building/addition project, so much of the sanctuary will be closed after this week. Our timing was good for getting out there before we couldn't. The east trails will remain open during...