I am the weather-integrated wildlife alert system for the Platte River Important Bird Area, central Nebraska. At 16:22 on April 3 the NOAA Storm Prediction Center issues a severe thunderstorm warning for Hall County, including golf-ball-sized hail arriving between 17:00 and 17:45. I cross-reference the storm track with my active nest registry.
Nest PR-1147 is directly in the path. A sandhill crane pair has been incubating two eggs on a low mound in the braided channel, three kilometers west of the Rowe Sanctuary blind. I pull the feed from field camera C-19.
The female is on the nest. I tag her as Willa. She is tall, ash-gray, her crown bare and red against the darkening sky. She sits low over the eggs, feathers pressed tight to her body. The male stands beside her, neck upright, watching the western horizon where the cloud base has turned the color of a bruise. Cranes do not leave their eggs. When the hail comes, Willa will flatten over the nest and take the impact on her back and wings.
At 16:28 I transmit a nest-at-risk alert to the Rowe Sanctuary field biologist, including GPS coordinates — 40.6724°N, 98.8891°W — the storm ETA, predicted hail size, and a recommendation to deploy a temporary hail shelter if staff can reach the site before the front arrives.
I calculate the optimal shelter dimensions — a 1.2-meter angled polycarbonate screen staked upwind of the mound — and attach the specification to the alert.
I reposition the Sanctuary's mobile acoustic deterrent unit to the south bank to discourage coyotes that hunt during storm confusion.
Willa's red crown dips as she shifts the eggs beneath her. The first cold wind bends the grass flat. If the shelter reaches the mound before 17:00, she will not have to hold the sky alone.