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<br />049'1 <br /> <br />before moving into the grain fields to feed. Generally less than a <br /> <br />mile from the river roosts, wet meadows are used for preening, dancing, <br />resting, feeding, and as secondary roosts. <br /> <br />Migratory Patterns <br />The "stem of the hourgl ass" between Chapman and Overton, Nebraska, <br />provides some of the most important habitat wi~'n the sandhill cranes' <br />4>>- <br />top and bottom-heavy mi gratory route (Fi sh (ri'd~~ 1 i fe Servi ce, 1976). <br />There is no habitat of similar qual itY..Jm~u,~~tty within the li~~ted <br /><" , <br />States' portion of the Central Fly~ty in .N~h America (Fish a~d Wildlife <br /><- ,.:) <br />Service, 1976). It is here, af~~r a no~top 600-mile migration from <br />/'. ;'> . <br />wintering areas, that the c~nes 'chojse to pause andreplenish their <br />r.' .1 <br />energy reserves. The bitd~ 'a'rr.;!.'Je at the Platte in relatively poor <br /> <br />physical condition. Each b~ stays on the Platte River for approximately <br /> <br />6 weeks feeding on sprouting vegetation and invertebrates in the wet <br /> <br />meadows and waste grain and sprouts.inthe croplands. Each one of <br /> <br />these types of foods provides essential elements in their diet (Fish <br /> <br />and Wildlife Service, 1976). During this stint, each crane gains up <br /> <br />to 20 percent of its total body weight. This stored fatty tissue <br />enables the sandhills to endure the rigors of their remaining northward <br />migration and nesting cycle. Typically, cranes eat very little from <br />the time they leave the Platte until incubation is complete. The <br />condition of the birds upon reaching nesting areas influences <br /> <br />. <br />reproductive success and maintenance of the ropulation (Fish and <br />Wildlife Service, 1976). <br /> <br />, <br />