Morning Dancing
Sandhill cranes dance at sunup on a sandbar in the Platte River east of Kearney, Nebraska. The dancing is part of the mating ritual for the cranes that stop at the Platte to feed and rest during their spring migration north to breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada. More than half a million cranes rotate in and out of a 50-mile stretch of the Platte. During their stay they dine on leftover corn from farm fields, adding about 20 percent to their body weight.