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540 cranes at Jasper-Pulaski on October 6, 2026

Sandhill Crane Migration: Where and When to See Them

54 viewing sites in 29 states, the months each refuge names, the counts they publish, and the sunrise and sunset that decide when to be standing there.

54
Viewing sites
in 29 states, 51 of them on the map
540
Jasper-Pulaski count
October 6, 2026, the first of the fall
736,000
Biggest count, Central Platte River Valley
Crane Trust survey, March 18, 2025
9
Festivals ahead
dates from the organizers
The fall so far

The first count of the fall is in

The Indiana DNR counted 540 sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area on October 6, 2026, the first of its weekly fall counts. Last fall the count peaked at 16,400 on December 2, 2025. Across the 4 full seasons published, the peak landed around November 30.

2022: 31,975 on November 22, 202231,9752022Nov 222023: 32,938 on November 28, 202332,9382023Nov 282024: 20,535 on December 3, 202420,5352024Dec 32025: 16,400 on December 2, 202516,4002025Dec 22026: 540 on October 6, 2026, so far5402026so far
The highest published count in each season, with the day it was made. The pale bar is the season under way, counted so far.
Sandhill cranes are beginning to stage in the area, and we will expect to see more migrants coming down in the coming weeks. We typically see peak numbers of cranes sometime around the last week in October!
Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, October 7, 2026, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Starting around September 29, 2026, construction work will begin on water control infrastructure around the Tour Loop. Road closures may be necessary for visitor and staff safety.
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, before you go, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Where, by month

Crane viewing sites, month by month

Pick a month. The colored pins are the sites whose managers name that month for cranes; the shading underneath is where people logged a confirmed sandhill crane on iNaturalist in the same month. 51 of the 54 sites have a pin; the rest are listed on their state pages without one. Each pin opens the site’s state page, with its quotes, its counts and today’s fly in times.

Style
Layers

13 of the 51 mapped sites name October. A pin is colored only when the refuge or agency that runs it prints that month. The shaded grid is where people have logged a verified sandhill crane on iNaturalist in October, in any year, brighter where more have been logged; it maps reports, so it thickens where observers stand.

When, by gathering

The crane year, September to August

The count peaks are the days the published counts usually top out, worked out from every season each publisher has printed. The festivals are the organizers’ own dates.

  1. October

  2. November

  3. December

  4. January

  5. February

    • Count peakHop-In Refuge, TennesseeThe count usually peaks around February 1, the median of 11 seasons. The highest count in the series is 13,500, on February 16, 2021.

  6. March

Festivals

Sandhill crane festivals, 2026 and 2027

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The biggest gathering

The Platte River in March

Every spring the cranes of the middle of the continent stop on one stretch of the Platte in central Nebraska. The Crane Trust flies it each week and publishes the count: 736,000 on March 18, 2025, the highest of the 11 springs charted below, with the peak usually around March 18.

2016: 410,000 on March 14, 2016410k2016Mar 142017: 406,000 on March 8, 2017406k2017Mar 82018: 598,000 on March 22, 2018598k2018Mar 222019: 660,000 on March 26, 2019660k2019Mar 262020: 541,000 on March 12, 2020541k2020Mar 122021: 574,000 on March 19, 2021574k2021Mar 192022: 626,000 on March 22, 2022626k2022Mar 222023: 458,000 on March 14, 2023458k2023Mar 142024: 487,000 on March 28, 2024487k2024Mar 282025: 736,000 on March 18, 2025736k2025Mar 182026: 402,000 on March 7, 2026402k2026Mar 7
The highest published count in each season, with the day it was made.

March 2025 on the Platte has two published figures from two surveys. The Crane Trust’s 736,000 is the peak of its weekly flights over the river, the week ending March 18, 2025. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 1,415,088 is its March photo corrected survey of the Central Platte River Valley, the figure it reports for the whole Mid-Continent Population. The methods differ, so the two numbers are not expected to match.

The sandhill cranes of the MCP are counted during spring migration when a majority gather along the Platte River Valley in Nebraska.
Central Flyway Council, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
A total of 16 surveys since October allowed us to record the largest group of overwintering Sandhill Cranes on the Platte in recorded history (35,000)
Crane Trust, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source

The bars are the Crane Trust’s published season peaks; the latest flight it published was 15,000 on April 6, 2026. Sandhill cranes in Nebraska

Five sandhill cranes flying high in a pink morning sky, seen through bare cottonwood branches
Lesser sandhill cranes over the Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte at first light, photographed for the EPA in the 1970s. The Platte gathering is the largest on the continent, and it happens in March. “Small flight of lesser sandhill cranes wheel through the early morning sky over the Lillian Annette Rowe Bird Sanctuary”, Patricia DuBose Duncan, US EPA DOCUMERICA, Public domain
When, by the clock

Sunrise and sunset are the show

Cranes spend the night standing in shallow water and the day in the fields around it. They leave the roost around sunrise and come back in the last hour of light, so the refuges time their tours and platforms to those two moments. Every site on the state pages shows today’s sunrise and sunset for its own coordinates, and turns a refuge’s “one hour before sunset” into a clock time.

Thousands of snow geese, Ross’s geese, and sandhill cranes spend the night in water to protect themselves from predators. Near dawn, the geese take off in a group in search of fields throughout the Middle Rio Grande Valley to feed in for the day.
USFWS, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Smaller groups of sandhill cranes then leave the safety of the water for the same reason. Check the sunrise time and stop in our visitor center to learn the most recent roosting and feeding sites, as they can change through the winter.
USFWS, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Blind tours are offered in the early morning while the cranes roost on the river and in the evening when the birds return to the river to roost for the night.
Crane Trust, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Cranes are most reliably roosting on the river at sunrise, making them easier to count before they disperse.
Crane Trust, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
About seventy grey sandhill cranes standing in shallow open water and on a strip of tan grass in front of a green tree line
Cranes standing in shallow water in October, the habitat every site on these pages shares. The water keeps them safe overnight; the harvested fields around it feed them through the day. “Flock of wading sandhill cranes”, USFWS Pacific Southwest Region, Public domain
State by state

29 states with crane viewing sites

StateWhen, and months at the sitesSitesLatest countNext festivalReports, last 12 months
AlabamaWinter1199
AlaskaPassing through, BreedingSep and May2339
ArizonaWinterSep to Mar2Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature FestivalJanuary 14, 2027140
CaliforniaWinterSep to Mar4The Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival 2026November 6, 2026786
ColoradoFall staging, Spring staging, Passing throughOct and Mar2Kids Crane FestOctober 10, 2026203
FloridaWinter, BreedingDec to Feb13,461
GeorgiaWinter, Passing through, Breeding166
IdahoPassing through, Breeding1196
IllinoisPassing through, Breeding1541
IndianaFall staging, Passing throughOct to Dec1540October 6, 2026Sandhill Crane SaturdaysOctober 17, 2026257
KansasWinter, Passing through29
KentuckyWinter, Passing through112,767February 9, 202621
MichiganFall staging, Passing through, BreedingOct to Nov233October 5, 2026CraneFest XXXIOctober 10, 20261,091
MinnesotaFall staging, Passing through, Breeding1546
MississippiWinter, Breeding1114
NebraskaWinter, Spring stagingMar to Apr215,000April 6, 2026151
NevadaFall staging, Passing through, Breeding220
New MexicoWinter, Passing throughOct to Jan3Festival of the CranesDecember 2, 2026353
OhioPassing through, Breeding4368
OklahomaWinter, Passing through229
OregonFall staging, Winter, Passing through, BreedingSep to Mar2210
South CarolinaWinter118
South DakotaPassing through19
TennesseeWinter, Passing throughOct to Mar2750February 2, 2026Sandhill Crane FestivalJanuary 16, 202797
TexasWinterSep and Dec to Feb1370
UtahPassing throughMar2216
WashingtonSpring staging, Passing through, BreedingSep to Oct329th Annual Othello Sandhill Crane FestivalMarch 18, 2027164
WisconsinFall staging, BreedingOct to Nov21,345
WyomingFall staging, Spring staging, Passing through, BreedingOct4242

Months are the ones the site managers print. Counts are the latest each publisher printed, with the date. Reports are iNaturalist research grade records from October 8, 2025 to October 8, 2026.

How many

The populations, in their counters’ words

Sandhill cranes are counted flock by flock rather than all at once, so each figure below belongs to the group that published it.

POPULATION: 1,460,000 ±230,000
International Crane Foundation, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes one survey figure a year for each of the populations it manages. These are its latest, each from its own survey, so they are not added together here.

  • 1,415,088Mid-Continent PopulationMarch 2025 photo-corrected count, Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska
  • 91,485Eastern Population2024 survey
  • 24,909Rocky Mountain Population2024 survey
  • 2,927Lower Colorado River Valley Population2025 survey
The spring 2025 estimate of abundance for sandhill cranes in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV), Nebraska, corrected for visibility bias, was 1,415,088 birds, which was 236% greater than the 2024 estimate of 420,840, and 12% greater than the 2023 estimate of 1,259,199 birds.
USFWS, Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes 2025, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
The Eastern Population (EP) sandhill crane fall survey index for 2024 (91,485) was a 17% decrease from the previous year, and well above the objective of 30,000 cranes for this population.
USFWS, Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes 2025, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
The fall 2024 pre-migration survey for the Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) counted 24,909 cranes, 9% lower than the count from 2023. The 3-year average was 23,603 sandhill cranes, which exceeds the established population objective of 17,000–21,000 for the RMP.
USFWS, Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes 2025, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
The survey counted 2,927 cranes in 2025, a 43% decrease from the previous year’s count of 5,156 cranes (Table 11, Fig. 20). The recent 3-year average for the winter count is 4,267 cranes.
USFWS, Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes 2025, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
The two migratory subspecies (Lesser and Greater) are distributed across a broad breeding range in the northern U.S. and Canada as well as eastern Siberia, with wintering grounds in the southern United States and northern Mexico.
International Crane Foundation, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
The three non-migratory subspecies (Mississippi, Cuban and Florida) have restricted ranges in the southern United States and Cuba.
International Crane Foundation, read October 8, 2026. Read it at the source
Two sandhill cranes wading in a shallow marsh in low gold light, one with its red crown raised and one feeding, sand dunes and mountains behind
A pair in the San Luis Valley. Sandhill cranes pair for years and travel as families, so a big flock is a crowd of small groups that arrived together. “Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Wetland, Dunes in Background”, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Public domain
Reports across the country

When people log sandhill cranes, month by month

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
67,763 research grade records from the United States, every year combined, by the month they were made. Most are logged in March. A record is a person’s photograph confirmed by others, so the bars count sightings rather than birds.

12,269 research grade sandhill crane reports from the United States in the twelve months to October 8, 2026.

Reading the last thirty days of reports from iNaturalist.

Reports from 19 more states

Research grade sandhill crane reports in the last twelve months from the states without a page of their own here yet. Each number opens the list on iNaturalist.

Sandhill crane questions

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Sandhill cranes by state

Fall migration watchWhere geese, swans and cranes stage, refuge by refuge.Duck migration reportThe waterfowl counts the refuges publish each week.Eagle watchingThe winter eagle gatherings and the public sites to see them from.Snowy owlsWhere the winter owls turn up, by state.
A long wooden observation platform on stilts at the edge of a wide grassy marsh, framed by an oak trunk and branches in summer
The observation platform at Jasper-Pulaski, seen in summer when the marsh is empty. From mid October the cranes fly in to the field in front of it in the last hour before sunset. “Jasper-Pulaski platform”, Huw Williams (Huwmanbeing), Public domain

Sites, months, counts and festival dates read October 8, 2026 from the refuge, agency, sanctuary and festival pages linked beside each one. Counts are published by the Indiana DNR, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Crane Trust; a refuge’s own page is the one to check before a long drive, since tour loops and platforms close for weather and work. Sunrise and sunset are computed for each site’s coordinates. Report tallies are iNaturalist research grade records, which count sightings, not birds.