Annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival

Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition, Inc. presents the annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival every fall. The festival occurs during fall staging - when cranes gather in large numbers in the fall to feed and gain energy for their migration south. The festival is held in beautiful Northwest Colorado with events in Steamboat Springs, Hayden, and Craig. The festival features guided crane-viewings, bird and nature walks, expert speakers, films, crane and bird art, children and family activities, and more.

Schedule of Events:

5:45am-8:45am: Guided Sunrise Crane Viewing

Stockbridge Transit Center

Shuttle will transport you to two locations where you can get off the shuttles to view the cranes flying overhead and feeding in agricultural fields. Paul Tebbel will address your questions and provide pertinent info about Sandhill Cranes and their behavior to enhance your crane viewing experience. The shuttles depart and return to Stockbridge Transit Center.

6:45am-10:30am: Marabou Ranch Bird Outing

Led by Rebecca Weiss, author of Birds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley, and Karen Whitney of the Yampa Valley Birding Club
Go birding throughout Marabou, a unique private ranch preservation community and working cattle and hay ranch. Click here for details.

8:00am-10am: Loudy-Simpson Guided Bird Walk

Led by Forrest Luke and Alan Reishus
Bird walk at Northwest Colorado's best migrant trap, Loudy-Simpson Park in Craig. Click here for details.

8:30am-10:30am: Yampa Preserve Guided Bird Walk

Led by Ted Floyd, editor of Birding magazine, and Andrew Floyd.
Bird at this property owned by The Nature Conservancy that harbors one of the largest remaining examples of a rare riparian forest type dominated by narrowleaf cottonwood, box elder maple, and red-osier dogwood.

9:00am-10:00am: "Meet and Greet" Coffee with Liz Smith and Michael Forsberg

Bud Werner Memorial Library Coffee Shop
Join Liz Smith and Mike Forsberg for an informal coffee hour. Here is your chance to chat with two of the world's experts in their respective fields.

9:00am-10:00am: TS Jost Crane-friendly Ranch Tour by Wagon

Led by Cosmo and Captain.

Join local ranchers Sharon and Terry Jost for a crane-friendly ranch tour at the TS Jost Ranch. Enjoy a wagon ride powered by horses Captain and Cosmo, while learning how agriculture and Sandhill Cranes coexist. The wagon ride will traverse some uneven terrain (expect a few bumps!) as the ranch owners tour you around their beautiful and productive fields that they share with the cranes. Click here for directions.

10:00am-11:00am: Crane Yoga

Led by Liz Leipold at Library Lawn at Bud Werner Memorial Library

Join yoga instructor Liz Leipold for a gentle yoga sequence about the life of the cranes, from calling, meeting, dancing, hatching, and growing up. Bring your own mat/towel.

10:00am-12:00pm: Nature's Educators Live Raptor Booth

Library Lawn near Children's Library

Visit with live owls and other raptors on the Library Lawn. This is a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with amazing birds of prey.

11:30am-1:00pm: Double Feature - Under the Wire and The Crane Dance. Introductions and Q and A featuring the director of each film.

Library Hall at Bud Werner Memorial Library

Under the Wire directed by Mariah Lundgren and featuring conservation photographer Michael Forsberg, tells the story of a community working together to improve fencelines so pronghorn and other wildlife can move more freely. It also celebrates the wildlife that call the North Platte River Valley along the Colorado-Wyoming border home and the folks living and working on this land to help keep these animals around for generations to come.

The Crane Dance - When wildlife film meets the performing arts. Director Maxence Lamoureux, in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Fiona le Goff, takes you to meet the crane whose courtship has inspired dances in cultures all around the world.

11:30am-1:30pm: Bag Lunch and iNaturalist Workshop

Led by Erin Gelling, rangeland ecologist and former executive director, Colorado Crane Conservation Conservation.

Participants will learn how to use iNaturalist and Seek by iNat app while learning about insects, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, and birds at the historic Carpenter Ranch near Hayden, Colorado. This event is suitable for people of all ages, including families and children; no experience necessary. Bring your lunch and your smartphones and we'll show you how to learn about nature with technology! Carpenter Ranch is known as a birdwatcher's paradise (over 150 species on the ranch bird list) located along the Yampa River 20 miles west of Steamboat Springs. The ranch also offers a remarkably diverse variety of insects. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired the ranch in 1996 as the centerpiece of its broader effort to conserve the natural and agricultural heritage of the Yampa River Valley. Today, the Conservancy manages this historic, biologically significant property as a working cattle ranch to explore ways to simultaneously pursue agricultural production and the conservation of streamside and wetland habitats.

1:30pm-2:30pm: "What a Hoot"

By Nature's Educators - Library Hall at Bud Werner Memorial Library

Learn about owls and the physical and behavioral adaptations they have that help them survive in their environment. Meet some real owls and learn their personal stories and amazing features. All ages are welcome for this FREE event.

Click here for Registration