Othello Sandhill Crane Festival
Nearly 35,000 sandhill cranes descend on Eastern Washington's Columbia Basin each March, and this festival — now in its 28th year — surrounds that migration with expert talks, guided crane viewings, photo contests, and family activities in the farm town of Othello.
About the event
Each March, close to 35,000 sandhill cranes stop in the Columbia Basin near Othello, Washington, resting and feeding in the cornfields and wetlands before continuing north to Alaskan breeding grounds. The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival has gathered around this migration every year since 1998 — making it a 28-year tradition and one of the premier crane viewing events in the Pacific Northwest.
The festival is organized by the Grant County Conservation District, working alongside a community board of directors and local sponsors. Its motto — "Enter as strangers, leave as friends" — captures the atmosphere: a relaxed, knowledgeable community of birders, families, and curious newcomers gathering in a small Eastern Washington farm town to witness one of the region's great wildlife spectacles. Beyond the cranes, the Columbia Basin's wetlands and fields host migrating ducks, geese, raptors, and shorebirds in the same window.
What to expect
The landscape around Othello is flat, open, and vast — bare cornfields, irrigation channels, and distant basalt ridges under March skies. Cranes are heard before they're seen: their primordial rattling calls carry across the basin even before you spot the flocks circling in to roost at dusk. Guided viewings led by local experts position groups for maximum visibility at the roost sites, a very different experience from scanning for cranes alone.
Festival programming includes educational talks by wildlife authors and experts — past speakers have included wildlife photographer Paul Bannick and ornithologist Paul Tebbel discussing crane behavior and ecology. Photo and art contests run throughout the weekend, and family activities are available for children. The town of Othello is small; lodging books fast, and many attendees stay in nearby Moses Lake or Ellensburg.
Key events
- Guided crane observation tours — Expert-led outings to the roost and foraging sites, with instruction on crane behavior, identification, and conservation context.
- Specialized nature tours — Guided tours covering the Columbia Basin's regional flora, fauna, and geology alongside the crane migration.
- Keynote talks — Wildlife experts and authors present on crane biology, conservation, and Pacific Flyway ecology.
- Photo and art contests — Entries accepted throughout the festival; winners announced at the closing event.
- Children's and family activities — Nature education programming for younger attendees.
- Evening social events — Community gatherings that give the festival its hospitable, returning-visitors feel.