By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

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Independent/Lane Hickenbottom Rowe Sanctuary Education Director Keanna Leonard stresses the main points volunteers should know in preparation for the onslaught of crane enthusiasts who come to Rowe to see the birds up-close. Volunteers are getting educated on the lives of sandhill cranes so they can start giving crane blind tours starting Saturday. Independent/Lane Hickenbottom Rowe Sanctuary volunteer Kevin Peck of Gothenburg uses binoculars to look out one of the blinds over the Platte River at Rowe Sanctuary Saturday. Click Thumbnails to View

* Why cranes come to this area

* Where they're coming from, and where they're going

* What's unique about the cranes

* What Rowe Sanctuary is doing for the cranes, and what they can do to help

Beyond that? Well, it's a jungle out there.

"I'm giving you a lot of information," Leonard, Rowe's education director, said. "But there's so much about these birds that we don't know."

Leonard was opining on the finer points of cranes to a crop of about 25 volunteers, some new, some seasoned. It was one of Rowe's final tuneups before public crane-watching tours begin next weekend.

Leonard got into just about everything related to cranes, from beaks to bustles, fears to foods.

It was a chance for new and returning volunteers to soak up as much information about the birds as they could.

"When's our pop quiz?" asked one rather sarcastic volunteer near the end of the day.

"Our pop quiz is next Saturday, when our first blind (tours) go out," Leonard replied.

Each year, Rowe relies on dozens of volunteers to make it through the blitz that is crane season, when thousands of visitors come from every state in the union and dozens of countries.

Those volunteers greet visitors, staff the gift shop, lead tours, answer questions and generally keep the place humming for its most important stretch of the year.

Several volunteers at this year's training session were longtime area residents who had seen the cranes every year, but with the help of a little extra free time, had decided it was time to get more involved.

That was the case with Judy Hansen of Minden, who has long sat on her back deck and listened to the cranes each spring.

Now, she's looking forward to helping others understand more about them, too.

"It's just something that I've grown up with," Hansen said. "I decided I'd like to learn more about it."

As the group took one of its two bird walks Saturday, its collective love for all things aviary was evident. Armed with cameras and binoculars, the group instantly fell silent when a red-tailed hawk was discovered in a tree near the trail.

Mike Smith of Tucson, Ariz., was one of those excited to see any birds he could. After two visits to Rowe since 2004, he fell in love with crane-watching and hopes to get enough training by next year to lead tours in the crane blinds.

He's getting a week of it in this year, playing gofer by day and watching from the blinds each night.

And there's nothing he looks forward to more than sharing his love for cranes.

"I love the cranes. They're large and they're loud," Smith said.

"The first time I saw it, I was just in awe of the experience, and I still am."