I'm staying another night! They finally opened east bound I 80 after 4pm and I took a quick drive to test the roads. However, they still were quite slick and as I was driving I started hearing a list of accidents being reported on the newly opened I 80. So, I'm in Kearney for another night. I have to say, the folks in Kearney are all being very kind and patient with their stranded travelers. The staff at the Fairfield Inn extended our checkout time so we could listen to road conditions and see if and when I 80 would open. After this trip, the Fairfield will be my number one choice when staying here. I used to stay in a different hotel, but they lost points when two years in a row either I didn't get a wake up call or participants in my tour group didn't get them and that's not good when you have to be at a prairie chicken blind at 4:30am.
All the restaurants I've been to have graciously given me extra vegetables for Cinnamon--she's like a celebrity. The girls at Red Lobster pictured above really spoiled her by sending me back to my hotel room with a healthy serving of parsley, carrots and spinach. They really wanted to meet her but I didn't want the restaurant to get in trouble for having an animal running about so I brought her over and met them in the door way. In the photo the girls look so cute and Cinnamon looks so focused on the parsley.
While I was out testing the roads I managed to see a couple of cranes. This flock pictured above had a few snow geese and greater white fronted geese mixed in. It just seems to stretch for miles. In the distance, the dark lines are more cranes.
It was fun to watch them move against the snow, especially when the danced. It made me wish that I hadn't already packed up all my digiscoping equipment and do the cranes and the landscape justice.
Horned larks and western meadowlarks were all over the sides of the road (pictured above). The snow really made the horned larks easy to pick out in the fields. All sorts of birds were hanging out right on the roads. At first I thought they may have been after the salt, but I saw more than one meadowlark flying away with some kind of worm hanging from their bills. Other highlights included seeing a kestrel fly off with a horned lark and a female bobwhite sitting on top of a snow bank.
So, cranes, trumpet away. Tomorrow morning, Cinnamon and I head bravely back to the Twin Cities. I just realized that I have been blogging about snow for the last week: first in Minnesota, then in Wisconsin and now in Nebraska. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.
Oh, one quick word of warning: avoid the Lobster Bites at Long John Silvers. I love the LJS, their chicken and fish makes me salivate. However, the Lobster Bites are the worst thing I've tasted since that one time in college I tried to make tuna helper (yeah, I know, but it's okay, I didn't inhale).
"Mom, I'm so booooooooooored!"
I-80 is still closed. Rumor has it that might open within the next four hours. Many of us at the hotel are playing a waiting game to see if we get to check out today or have to stay another night. That's my window on the left in the above photo. I was half tempted to tell you that I'm on the second floor of the hotel, but I won't, I am on the first floor. Apparently we got 17 inches after the snow stopped.
The hotel staff has been joking with us that even though the interstate may open, we may not be able to get out of the parking lot. I'm lucky, my car isn't as wedged in as the one above, but will require some shoveling. I'm really kicking myself because I didn't bring my snow boots. Since I do more traveling, I've been trying to cut back on my packing--especially if I take a car and not a plane. I remember last week as I was loading the rental car and I looked at my Saturn and realized my snow boots were in the back. I started to grab them and then reminded myself that when I go to Nebraska, I bird almost entirely by car--I told myself that I didn't need them. So, I left them behind. DOH!
So, how am I passing my time?
By fighting over a bag of almond salad garnish with my bunny while watching reruns of 
I have to hand it to the Fairfield Inn in Kearney, they are taking good care of their stranded guests. The restaurant next door, Carlos O'Kelly's (potato tacos anyone?) decided to closed for the day, but worked with the hotel to provide lunch and dinner for us. I asked at the front desk if it would be possible to get some fresh veggies for Cinnamon and extra lettuce was provided.
I wonder how all the cranes are doing? I would imagine that they are sticking pretty close to Rowe Sanctuary. The 
Speaking of birds, I got a response from Bud Anderson about the 
I forgot a couple of highlights of the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration. I met 
Of course, a festival, just isn't a festival unless I buy some souvenirs. Cinnamon helped me realize that I wanted one of 
I don't think I'll be driving from Kearney, NE to Minneapolis today.
Word at the hotel front desk is that the roads will be officially closed within the next two hours. The radio station I'm listening to is reading the list of all that is closed (schools, malls, clinics, weightwatchers, etc). He's been going nonstop for the last twelve minutes, I think it would have been faster to read what is open. Many restaurants are closed or will be closing soon, but the hotel is making food arrangements for us.
Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure I will be leaving tomorrow morning 
Today while demonstrating some digiscoping, I noticed two long billed male red-winged blackbirds feeding on the ground at Rowe Sanctuary. Early readers of this blog may remember the 
There is so much we're learning but so little we don't know. Part of me was excited when I saw the birds, realizing that this is part of a great mystery, but then I felt sad that this a problem that we don't know the answer to and these birds are going to have a rough go of it as their bills continue to grow. A friend had given me a copy of Bud's PowerPoint Presentation on the long-billed hawk syndrome so I showed some of the examples of birds to the staff at Rowe Sanctuary, there was even a photo of a male red-winged black bird looking just like the blackbirds in my photos.
If you see a long-billed bird, please report it to Bud at bud@frg.org.
Oh dear, Kearney is officially under a winter storm warning and currently rain is shifting to snow. Tonight at the banquet at the Rivers and Wildlife Festival it was announced that the prairie chicken blind trip tomorrow morning is cancelled, since the chickens will not be "workin' the lek" (mating) due to the impending snow. The crane blind trip is still a go since the cranes landed on the river tonight to roost and when they wake up in the morning, they can't really "sleep in" on the water so that experience should still be magical and worthwhile. Wussy prairie chickens. I wonder if Cinnamon and I will be able to make the 18 miles from my hotel to my booth at Rowe Sanctuary tomorrow?
Speaking of Cinnamon, when I take her outside, you can tell she is not sure what to make of all the crane sounds. When I am carrying her from the car to the booth, she gets very tense and is trying to figure out the source of the sound, but just doesn't know what to make of it.
Cinnamon is earning her pay by being the model for testing out close focusing of binoculars at the Eagle Optics booth. I made her wear a harness and leash while at the festival because I realize that just because I enjoy the company of the bunny, doesn't mean all the vendors around me do.
Here, Cinnamon is taking a visit to sculptor Gary Ginther's booth on the left to check out his pewter eagles and cranes. Gary's work can be seen around Kearney and he recently did a ten foot buffalo sculpture for Ted Turner. Cinnamon was also very interested in the wooden frames surrounding the photos of 
True to form Cinnamon gives Mark a 
"I disapprove of this dignity robbing harness. I am a force of nature who cannot be tamed by some mere human."
