Aerial Infrared Videography of Sandhill Cranes

Each spring over half a million sandhill cranes and a number of endangered whooping cranes use the Platte River as a stopover point during their northern migration. Changes in land use and river morphology are believed to have altered the feeding and roosting patterns of sandhill cranes. Aerial infrared videography was used to image sandhill cranes roosting in the Platte River during the spring 2000-2003 and 2005 migration seasons (Kinzel and others, 2005). The video system was used at higher altitudes to resolve the roosting locations of sandhill cranes along the entire width of river channel (See Below). These images were used within a geographic information system (GIS) to generate accurate maps of sandhill crane roosting locations along the 85 miles of river between Lexington and Grand Island, Nebraska. Lower altitude flights were used to resolve individual sandhill cranes (See Below) and compute densities. Information collected from both altitudes was used to estimate the population of roosting sandhill cranes (Kinzel and others 2006).

Videos

High-altitude aerial image (~2000 ft) of roosting sandhill cranes.

Low-altitude aerial image (~ 1000 ft) of roosting sandhill cranes.

Infrared video of sandhill cranes landing.

For More Information

Kinzel, P.J., Nelson, J.M., and Parker, R.S., 2005, Assessing sandhill crane roosting habitat along the Platte River, Nebraska: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2005-3029, 2p.

Kinzel, P.J., Nelson, J.M., Parker, R.S., and Davis, L.R., 2006, Spring census of mid-continent sandhill cranes using aerial infrared videography, Journal of Wildlife Management, 70(1), 70-77.