Platte River between Kearney, Nebraska and Grand Island, Nebraska.  The Platte is a shallow sandbar-laden river that provides overnight safety to over 1/2 million migrating Sandhill Cranes.  The cranes winter in Mexico and the southern U.S. and then use the Platte as a resting and refueling stop on their way north to the Dakotas and Canada. We spent three (mostly cloudy) days along the Platte to experience the majesty of the great Sandhill migration. The Sandhills are along the Platte from late February to mid-April.