Upcoming Trip To Nebraska

On March 25, I will be spending the night in a photo blind at the Platte river in Kearney, Nebraska. This is the location of the Rowe Sanctuary- where three quarters of the world's population of SandHill Cranes stop to nest on their way north. I made this same trip last year, with less than satisfactory results. I was a little ill-prepared for the extreme weather, even though I brought cold weather gear. Most importantly, I have upgraded my photo equipment. This year I am bringing extra batteries for the camera, and much faster and higher capacity flash memory. Last year I brought a 300 f/4 Nikon lens to get close shots of the birds. With a 1.5x crop factor for the D200, that equates to a 450mm f/4. The folks at Rowe recommended this as a minimum set-up. Well, that really wasn't the best setup for me because of the low light, I couldn't take advantage of using a teleconverter. After the trip I realized I needed a more powerful lens. I ended up purchasing a Sigma 50-500mm f/6.3. If you factor in the crop, it is a essentially a 750mm f/6.3 setup. Ideally I would like to eventually purchase a Nikon 600mm f/4, but I don't currently have the funds for that. For landscape shots, I will rely on the Nikon 18-70mm lens. Will a landscape shot at Rowe make it into my project? I don't know yet. I also will be passing through several other states on the way there, so I may have the opportunity for photos for the project in Illinois, Iowa, etc.