Thursday, March 28

The Crestone Eagle is a nonprofit monthly newspaper serving Crestone and the San Luis Valley

The Monte Vista Crane Festival happens March 11-13

Cranes. Towering, snowcapped peaks. Small-town hospitality.

The migration

20,000 or so greater Sandhill Cranes and a few thousand Lesser Sandhills. Besides the cranes there are thousands of waterfowl, numerous wintering bald eagles and other raptors which highlight the wildlife viewing.

The mountains

The towering peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains serve as the backdrop to this epic migration. Golden fields and snow-covered ridge lines provide endless opportunities for photography enthusiasts.

The people

Experience the small-town hospitality of Monte Vista and the San Luis Valley.

The 2022 Festival

Due to the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the March 11-13 Monte Vista Crane Festival will be hybrid in nature. We will not using buses or gathering indoors.

Instead of Crane tours, you will drive yourself to a meet-up location on the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge and learn from experts interesting facts about Sandhill Cranes. Individual tickets are purchased by selecting an event below. Please select one Sandhill Crane Orientation Meet-up for the entire weekend to attend, we have limited availability this year because of COVID. If you wish to take a second tour to locations outside of the Refuge, again please select one meet-up tour for the entire weekend.

For 2022 speaking events, we asked our experts to record their presentations. You can watch the videos on demand for free from March 11-20. We hope you enjoy! The videos contain interesting information about wildlife use of abandoned mines along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Flammulated Owls at the Hot Creek Research Natural Area in the San Luis Valley, raptor education by Hawks Aloft and more. For more information and schedule of events and to register for tours, visit https://mvcranefest.org.

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