On the move

We are currently in Kearney NE. We left Moab Saturday morning and headed for Denver. The forecast for Vail was for low 50 's with light rain showers.  The forecast for Denver was for low 70's and sun. Well the weather folks did real well with Denver.....not so good with Vail. As we approached Vail pass and got above 8,000 ft elevation the themp  got to 30 degrees and the rain turned to snow. So for about 45 mins the driving was pretty much a white knuckle affair.  

Coming down the mountain into Denver a bulk hauler sent a stone into the trucks windshield leaving a double chip. Will deal with that once we are home. 

Plan to spend 2 nights here in Kearney.  It's a great migration stopover for all matter of birds. Most have already gone through but we will see who the late arrivals are. It's a major stop over for Sandhill Cranes and they are here by the thousands. After spending 3-4 weeks here they move on to their nesting locations.  Even though it's past peak migration time there are still lots of cranes here.  

This evening we saw 2 yellow headed blackbirds. Man are they pretty. 

We must have seen 1,000 or more cranes in the air as they moved from feeding areas to roosting spots on the sandbars in the river. 

Just as it was getting really dark 50- 100 cranes landed about 100 yards away from our blind.  

The shear number of birds and all of the sounds they make when they flyover is something to experience.