Rick Windham Outdoor Columnist
In the last few days, I have observed three signs of spring.
The first thing I noticed was that Lake Maloney had opened up. Very little ice is left except in sheltered areas.
Second, I have seen sandhill cranes flying overhead. I heard them first and searched the sky until I saw them. I don't care what Punxsutawney Phil predicted back on Groundhog Day, cranes returning to Nebraska are my official sign of spring.
We are lucky here. We don't have to travel far to see the cranes. For the next few weeks, sandhill crane numbers will be building.
Many of these great birds will be able to be seen just a few miles west of North Platte along Highway 30. It is an easy drive west of town, out along Platte Valley and Suburban roads to see and hear the cranes.
Crane watching is relatively easy if you follow a few simple rules:
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Good binoculars or a spotting scope are essential. By simply staying in your vehicle, you can get an up-close look at the cranes with good optics.
If photography is a hobby, this is a great time of the year. You'll need a lens or zoom capability that will be in the 6-power to 20-power range to get the best photos.
Many of today's small digital cameras can do this. Even some cell phones have cameras with 10-power or more zoom ability.
Cranes are known to mate for life. Younger birds who are returning north for their first breeding season can be observed performing courtship dances in the fields. Perspective mates will approach one another, bob their heads and circle their partner.
Birds will often leap into the air and flutter their wings. As soon as they touch down again, the ritual begins again. This type of courtship dance has been going on for millennia.
The second sign of spring I noticed when I was out along the North Platte River was a muskrat. As odd as that sounds, when muskrats are out doing their thing, it means spring is here. This muskrat was contentedly munching on the local vegetation.
Muskrats do not hibernate, but with water frozen and snow on top of that, you rarely see their daily routine. Muskrats live in dens, usually dug into banks or in structures of piled up vegetative matter, known as push-ups.
Muskrats generally enter both their dens and push-ups below water level. Push-ups are built in open water. During most of the year the water acts like a moat and keeps predators away -- until it freezes.
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All a hungry coyote or bobcat needs to do then is walk out on the ice to the push-up. Fortunately, push-ups are more difficult to get into than you might think and in the time it would take a coyote or bobcat to dig into it, the muskrat slips out underwater and gets away.
These push-ups have several functions. They serve as resting places and food storage. Most muskrats will have several push-ups near their den. If you look at how the push-ups are located, they are often within 50-60 yards of the den. This is not by accident; it just happens to be about the distance a muskrat can swim underwater without needing another breath.
They can't poke their heads up through the ice to breathe. They know they will have to deal with ice so they instinctively know how far away to build another push-up.
Muskrats prefer to live near open water with cattails, pondweeds and bulrushes. These types of vegetation provide food and building materials for the muskrat. They will also eat small fish, clams, frogs, crayfish and snails, but cattails are their preferred food source.
Swift moving water or water bodies that change in depth too quickly are not good muskrat habitat. Muskrats like to travel open corridors of water, so dense marshes are not likely places to find them.
Yes, muskrats are a sign of springtime being upon us, but I bet you never really thought about it this way before.
Deep sea fishing
Deep sea fishing is not something we worry about here in Nebraska, but I found this item interesting.
Deep sea fishing has been a topic of great interest recently in the world or archaeology. Up to now, it was believed that man did not have the capability to seek out deep water species until about 12,000 years ago.
However, researcher Sue O'Connor of the Australian National University was working off of northern Australia on an island where archaeologist believe Polynesian peoples first landed and ultimately colonized the Australian continent.
O'Connor had already found evidence of early fishing technology in the region but had also heard stories of a more ancient culture of fishermen.
Local tribesmen ultimately led her to a limestone cave. O'Connor found evidence that ancient mariners used the cave.
A team was put together to dig and by the time a month had passed, O'Connor's team had recovered over 10,000 artifacts.
The lowest level of the dig was hardened, and some samples had to be taken back to a laboratory and treated with acetic acid to remove the material surrounding the encrusted objects.
What O'Connor found was carved fishhooks and bones of deep-sea fish like tuna and sharks. To catch fish like this, the fishermen had to have rather sophisticated boats, equipment and be far more advanced than previously thought. Some of the objects discovered were carbon dated to 42,000 years old. History is being rewritten -- again!
Have a great weekend outdoors.
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