Photo: Kathy Simpson

conserving rocky mountain greater sandhill cranes + their habitat through science + education

The Greater Sandhill Crane is an iconic species of the Yampa Valley in Northwest Colorado. Returning in the spring from wintering grounds in New Mexico and Arizona, cranes nest and raise their young in wetland areas throughout the valley.

LATEST NEWS >

Showcase Your Creative Skills for Cranes!

CCCC is accepting entries for two contests – follow the links below for complete contest rules. Submit entries by August 7, 2026.

The Crane Coloring Contest is open to kids ages 3-18 years old. The coloring page can be downloaded from the contest page and is available at libraries throughout the Yampa Valley.

CCCC’s Crane Photo Contest is open to all amateur and professional photographers. Participants can choose from four different categories. Visit the contest page for official rules and instructions.

4th of July Crane Dance

The CCCC crane dancers returned to the spotlight for the Steamboat Springs 4th of July Hometown Parade—and made their debut performance at Steamboat Creates‘ Art in the Park! Our dedicated dancers grooved to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1967 Motown classic, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ A huge thank you to the Steamboat Dance Theatre for their support and studio space, to choreographer Emma Sharp for helping us perfect our moves, and to all the amazing CCCC volunteers who made this event possible! View our 4th of July Crane Dance videos:

The 2026 Nest Camera Season has concluded:

We extend sincere gratitude to our incredible Nest Camera Production Team and to all of our nest camera viewers for a wonderful and exciting season. We captured many interesting behavioral observations, an amazing diversity of wildlife in the wetland, and best of all, we were fortunate enough to watch this crane pair hatch two chicks and follow them throughout the first two weeks of life. For more, visit the Nest Camera web page or catch the highlights and recorded livestreams on the Colorado Cranes YouTube channel.

On May 28, 2026, the season ended due to a severe windstorm which destroyed our camera system. We need your help to rebuild and keep this window to the wetlands streaming next year. Donate to the Nest Camera Campaign!

Visit us during the Yampa Valley Crane Festival for a talk from CCCC featuring Lessons Learned from 5 years of the Crane Nest Camera!

Thanks for a great season.

YAMPA VALLEY CRANE FESTIVAL

Save the date for the 15th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival on September 3 – 6, 2026. Learn more about all that the festival has to offer:

View Crane Nest Camera highlights:

Our appreciation for the crane grows with the slow unraveling of earthly history. His tribe, we now know, stems out of the remote Eocene. The other members of the fauna in which he originated are long since entombed within the hills. When we hear his call we hear no mere bird. We hear the trumpet in the orchestra of evolution. He is the symbol of our untamable past, of that incredible sweep of millennia which underlies and conditions the daily affairs of birds and men.

– Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac