December 2001 - January 2002
December 15
Harlan County CBC
From: Joel Jorgensen zrtac(at)genesisnet.n e t
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] Harlan Co. CBC- Final
Hello all,
Here are the final results of the Harlan County CBC. As I said, it was a very windy day and that made birding tough. It was the lowest species total in six years, no new species were added and only one record count was made.
Joel Jorgensen
---------------------------
HCR CBC- 15 Dec 2001
Am. White Pelican- 1
Double-crested Cormorant- 5
Gr. White-fronted Goose- 1
Snow Goose- 1
Canada Goose- 301
Mallard- 1212
No. Pintail- 3
No. Shoveler- 13
Gadwall- 4
Am. Wigeon- 3
Redhead- 5
Canvasback- 2
Lesser Scaup- 2
Bufflehead- 3
Hooded Merganser- 1
Common Merganser- 12,000
Bald Eagle- 51 (31 adults)
Northern Harrier- 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk- 1
Red-tailed Hawk- 32
Rough-legged Hawk- 3
American Kestrel- 1
American Coot- 6
Bonaparte's Gull- 1
Ring-billed Gull- 2360
Herring Gull- 174
Thayer's Gull- 1
Rock Dove- 27
Great-horned Owl- 2
Red-bellied Woopecker- 7
Downy Woodpecker- 7
Hairy Woodpecker- 1
Northern Flicker- 17
Horned Lark- 12
Blue Jay- 2
Black-billed Magpie- 16
Am. Crow- 108
Black-capped Chickadee- 25
White-breasted Nuthatch- 17
Brown Creeper- 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 2
Eastern Bluebird- 45 (record high)
American Robin- 263
Cedar Waxwing- 16
Eur. Starling- 509
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 17
Northern Cardinal- 6
Am Tree Sparrow- 52
Song Sparrow- 7
White-crowned Sparrow- 10
Harris' Sparrow- 15
Dark-eyed Junco- 118 (5 Oregon)
Red-winged Blackbird- 46
Meadowlark spp.- 4
Common Grackle- 1
House Finch- 16
Red Crossbill- 1
Pine Siskin- 2
Am. Goldfinch- 165
House Sparrow- 35
Total number of species- 60
Total number of individuals- 17,766
Party Hours- 20
miles by foot- 5
miles by car- 61
Temperature- High: 50 Low: 30
Wind- 20-40 south
Date- 15 Dec
Participants- Robin Harding, Glen Hoge, Wanda Hoge, Joel Jorgensen,
Lanny Randolph
December 16
Branched Oak Lake - Seward CBC
From: Gubanyi, Joe jgubanyi(at)seward.cune.e d u
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] Branched Oak Lake-Seward CBC final tally
The final tally of the Branched Oak Lake-Seward CBC has been completed.
Count Date: Dec 16 2001
40,998 individuals were seen.
73 species were observed on the count day and an additional 5 species
were
seen during the count week.
The most noteworthy sightings were the pectoral sandpiper and
Calidris species seen two days after the count (Dec 18) at Pawnee Lake.
The
Calidris species was a small black-legged peep (stint). I originally
reported it as a semipalmated sandpiper. After further review
of several
field guides, I have concluded that the bird is one of 4 possible species
(western sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper, red-necked stint, and little
stint). The bird was a very small black-legged stint in non-breeding
plumage, easily distinguished from larger Baird's sandpipers and
yellow-legged least sandpipers. Unfortunately, the four possible
black-legged peeps are very difficult to distinguish in non-breeding
plumage. In my opinion, western sandpiper is the most likely
species.
Western sandpipers are the most likely to linger and late fall migrants
are
usually males with shorter bills that are hard to distinguish from
the other
species. The two stints are Asian species with very few North
American
inland records. I checked the CBC database, and there has been
only one
sighting of any Calidris species on a Nebraska CBC (a single Baird's
sandpiper seen on the Lake McConaughy CBC in 1995), so these are significant
sightings. It sure would have been nice to have gotten a positive
ID on the peep.
Pied-billed Grebe cw
American White Pelican 1 US HC
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 7 HC
Greater White-fronted Goose cw
Snow Goose 28910 HC
Ross's Goose 8 HC
Canada Goose 2081
Gadwall 15
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 4840
Northern Shoveler 26
Northern Pintail 2
American Green-winged Teal 6
Canvasback 14
Redhead 2
Lesser Scaup 10
Bufflehead 1
Common Goldeneye 1
Hooded Merganser 21
Common Merganser 38
Ruddy Duck 1
Bald Eagle 3
Adults = 1, Immatures = 1, Unknowns = 1
Northern Harrier 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 38
Harlan's Hawk 1
Rough-legged Hawk 1
Buteo sp. 1
American Kestrel 7
Peregrine Falcon 1 US HC
Ring-necked Pheasant 5
Northern Bobwhite 45
American Coot 9 HC
Killdeer 1 US
Pectoral Sandpiper cw US
Calidris sp. cw US
Ring-billed Gull 315
Herring Gull 15
Rock Dove 11
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 4
Barred Owl 1
Long-eared Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 22
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 33
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 27
Northern (Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted) Flicker 1
Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker 24
Northern Shrike 3
Blue Jay 54
Black-billed Magpie cw
American Crow 560
Black-capped Chickadee 122
Red-breasted Nuthatch 13
White-breasted Nuthatch 44
Brown Creeper 7
Golden-crowned Kinglet 14
Eastern Bluebird 51
Townsend's Solitaire 5 HC
Hermit Thrush 1 US HC
American Robin 819
European Starling 1496
Cedar Waxwing 302
American Tree Sparrow 170
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 2
Harris's Sparrow 10
Dark-eyed Junco 178
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco 2
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco 114
Northern Cardinal 90
Red-winged Blackbird 22
Western Meadowlark 1
meadowlark sp. 16
House Finch 34
Red Crossbill 20 HC
Pine Siskin 4
American Goldfinch 196
House Sparrow 69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Observers (non-nocturnal)
In Field: 11
Number of Parties: Minimum 4 , Maximum 6
At Feeders: 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Party Hours and Distance (excludes viewing at feeders and noctural birding)
Total Party: 47.75 hours, 290.75 miles
By Foot: 28 hours, 26.75 miles
By Car: 19.75 hours, 264 miles
Other Time and Distance
At Feeders: 3 hours
Nocturnal Birding: 2.5 hours, 44 miles
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weather
Temperature: Minimum 39 °F, Maximum 47 °F
Wind Direction: NW
Wind Velocity: Minimum 0 mph, Maximum 10 mph
Snow Depth: Minimum 0 inch, Maximum 0 inch
Still Water: Open Moving Water: Open
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
a.m. and p.m. Conditions
a.m. Cloud Cover: Cloudy p.m. Cloud Cover: Clear
a.m. Rain: None p.m. Rain: None
a.m. Snow: None p.m. Snow: None
December 15
Omaha CBC
From: grenon925(at)aol. c o m
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001
Subject: Omaha CBC
The mild weather and totally open water created an average CBC for Omaha
(65
species) on Dec. 15, but provided several high count species and two
new ones
for count day.
New birds for our count were:
Bufflehead (33) seen twice before in count week
Franklin's Gull (150)
I also had a call on Dec. 15 for an identification that turned out to
be
Franklin's Gulls located about 105th & Pacific in a mowed field
in Omaha.
There may be more than one flock, or not.
High counts in 39 years were:
Hooded Merganser
21
Ruddy Duck
327
Ring-billed Gull
798
Herring Gull
5
American Crow
758
Cedar Waxwing
295
We missed the Pileated Woodpecker, but found the Red-shouldered Hawk.
We also had dandelions and a few Sulphur butterflies.
Betty Grenon
Omaha CBC Compiler
December 15
Scottsbluff CBC
From: Alice Kenitz akenitz(at)prairieweb.c o m
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] Scottsbluff CBC
Hi NEBirders,
I finally have everything together to post the results of the Scottsbluff
CBC which was done on Dec. 15. Sorry it has taken me so long!!
This is the 48th year for the Scottsbluff CBC. Average number
of species
for the previous 47 is 44. Our total this year is 54 species,
plus 4 during
the count week. Best bird was probably the Swainson's Thrush
seen at Scotts
Bluff National Monument on Dec. 14. Conspicuous by their absence
are Horned
Larks.
Great Blue Heron 6 (hi)
Canada Goose 8683
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall 1
American Wigeon 100
Mallard 8715
Northern Pintail 12
Green-winged Teal 2
Redhead 4 (1st)
Lesser Scaup 9
Common Goldeneye 96
Common Merganser 3
Bald Eagle 19 (hi)
12 im. 7 ad.
Northern Harrier 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Cooper's Hawk 1 (1st)
Red-tailed Hawk 16 (hi)
Rough-legged Hawk 3
Buteo sp. 2
Golden Eagle 2
American Kestrel 25
Merlin 1
Prairie Falcon 2
Ring-necked Pheasant 3
Wild Turkey 69
Common Snipe 2
Ring-billed Gull 2
Rock Dove 166
Great Horned Owl CW
Belted Kingfisher 5
Downy Woodpecker 8
Hairy Woodpecker CW
Northern Flicker 38
Northern Shrike 1
Blue Jay 73 (hi)
Black-billed Magpie 126
American Crow 25
Black-capped Chickadee 24
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Townsend's Solitaire 20
Swainson's Thrush CW
American Robin 123
European Starling 1771
American Tree Sparrow 84
Song Sparrow 9
White-throated Sparrow 2 (1st)
White-crowned Sparrow 55
Dark-eyed Junco 235
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 3512
Western Meadowlark 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Common Grackle CW
Brown-headed Cowbird 6 (1st)
House Finch 114
Red Crossbill 1
Pine Siskin 163
American Goldfinch 802 (hi)
House Sparrow 218
Good birding to all,
Alice Kenitz
From: Alice Kenitz
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] Fw: Scottsbluff CBC
NEBirders,
Several of us have been able to give further study to the Swainson's
Thrush
reported during count week for the Scottsbluff CBC. Today we
got a good
look at the bird and have decided that our ID of Swainson's Thrush
was not
right. The bird is, in our opinion, a Sage Thrasher.
Sorry about the mix up.
Alice Kenitz
-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie Naylor
To: Alice Kenitz
Date: Wednesday, January 09, 2002
Subject: Re: Scottsbluff CBC
Alice-
Will you please forward this to the local CBC birders who got the first message?
The bird identified as an immature Swainson's Thrush during the CBC
week has
been hanging around the headquarters at Scotts Bluff National Monument
off
and on since December 14. It was difficult to get a clear look
at him until
today, January 9. This morning, the birding staff at the monument
(Val
Naylor, Deb Qualey, Marvin Achtenberg, Donna Davey, Bob Manasek) all
got a
good look and all agreed that the bird is actually an immature SAGE
THRASHER. Today we were able to see all important characteristics
including a yellow eye, two thin wingbars, and a slightly curved black
bill.
I called Alice Kenitz and Kathy Larson. Both were able to come
to the
monument and confirm the bird.
Sorry for any confusion. These two immature birds are quite similar,
except
for the eye and wingbars.
If anyone is interested in seeing the bird, it looks like it is going
to
stick around. It is active mornings until early afternoon, especially
when
the weather is nice.
Feel free to give us a call to find out if he has been sighted recently.
Valerie Naylor
Lake McConaughy CBC
From: Stephen Dinsmore
Subject: Lake McConaughy CBC totals.
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001
Hi everyone-
Once again, I'd like to thank each of you for helping make the
2001
Lake McConaughy CBC a great one. Below are the species totals I have
for
this year's count, along with a few additional notes.
Steve
**************************************
Lake McConaughy CBC totals - 16 December 2001
103 species, 18,402 individuals
Two additional species (Long-tailed Duck and Barrow's Goldeneye) were
seen
only during count week and not on count day. NC indicates a species
that
was new to the count. The worst misses were Hooded Merganser
(first miss in
11 years), Northern Shoveler (fourth miss), and Mountain Bluebird (third
miss). The total species list for this count is now 142.
1 Common Loon
2 Horned Grebe
2 Red-necked Grebe
2 Eared Grebe
122 Western Grebe
1 Clark's Grebe
1 American White Pelican
7 Great Blue Heron
1 Snow Goose
4,417 Canada Goose
26 Trumpeter Swan
302 Gadwall
148 American Wigeon
1,096 Mallard
1 Northern Pintail
10 Green-winged Teal
39 Canvasback
126 Redhead
106 Ring-necked Duck
1 Tufted Duck
54 Greater Scaup
403 Lesser Scaup
1 White-winged Scoter
800 Bufflehead
785 Common Goldeneye
2,834 Common Merganser
32 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Ruddy Duck
16 Bald Eagle
9 Northern Harrier
2 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Northern Goshawk
27 Red-tailed Hawk
3 Ferruginous Hawk
6 Rough-legged Hawk
2 Golden Eagle
26 American Kestrel
2 Merlin
4 Prairie Falcon
1 Ring-necked Pheasant
1 Greater Prairie-Chicken
1 Sharp-tailed Grouse
6 Wild Turkey
15 Northern Bobwhite
1 Virginia Rail
484 American Coot
9 Killdeer
3 Common Snipe
1 Mew Gull
884 Ring-billed Gull
29 California Gull
66 Herring Gull
3 Thayer's Gull
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (NC)
43 Rock Dove
5 Eurasian Collared-Dove
2 Mourning Dove
1 Eastern Screech-Owl
8 Great Horned Owl
1 Snowy Owl (NC)
12 Long-eared Owl
2 Short-eared Owl
7 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
25 Downy Woodpecker
10 Hairy Woodpecker
33 Northern Flicker
4 Northern Shrike
3 Blue Jay
86 Black-billed Magpie
363 American Crow
87 Horned Lark
84 Black-capped Chickadee
13 White-breasted Nuthatch
10 Brown Creeper
1 Marsh Wren
7 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (NC)
70 Townsend's Solitaire
381 American Robin
804 European Starling
6 Cedar Waxwing
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Spotted Towhee (NC)
126 American Tree Sparrow
26 Song Sparrow
5 Harris's Sparrow
5 White-crowned Sparrow
781 Dark-eyed Junco
12 Lapland Longspur
30 Snow Bunting
22 Northern Cardinal
1,192 Red-winged Blackbird
19 meadowlark sp.
1 Common Grackle
37 Brown-headed Cowbird (NC)
3 Purple Finch
151 House Finch
1 Common Redpoll
477 Pine Siskin
415 American Goldfinch
99 House Sparrow
**************************************
Stephen J. Dinsmore
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Box 9690/257 Thompson Hall
Mississippi State, MS 39762
662-325-8141 (office)
662-325-8726 (fax)
sdinsmore(at)cfr.msstate. e d u (email)
December 22
DeSoto/Boyer Chute CBC
From: Jerry Toll jertol(at)radiks.n e t
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] DeSoto/Boyer Chute CBC
Excuse the really late posting of the DeSoto/Boyer Chute CBC held December
22. I still have not received the official totals from the tabulator but
this is darn close. As many of you may recall, this count was held on our
one and only snow storm this season. Despite conditions and having one
quadrant having next to no coverage, we came out about normal species-wise.
SPECIES Total 64
American Pelican 1
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Greater White-fronted Goose 20
Snow Goose 33025
Ross' Goose 1
Canada Goose 638
Mallard 10016
Redhead 1
Common Goldeneye 94
Hooded Merganser 6
Common Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 2
Bald Eagle adult 18
Bald Eagle immature 16
Bald Eagle unknown 6
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5
Red-tailed Hawk 28
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Merlin' 1
American Kestrel 4
Ring-necked Pheasant 12
Wild Turkey 182
Killdeer 1
Common Snipe 1
Ring-billed Gull 58
Rock Dove 70
Mourning Dove 55
Eastern Screech Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Barred Owl 1
Short-earred Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 35
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Yellow-shafted Flicker 45
Horned Lark 159
Blue Jay 17
American Crow 214
Black-capped Chickadee 97
Tufted titmouse 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 17
Golden-crowned Kinglet 5
Eastern Bluebird 3
American Robin 820
Cedar Waxwing 151
Northern Shrike 1
European Starling 381
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Northern Cardinal 59
American Tree Sparrow 746
Song Sparrow 14
White-throated Sparrow 2
Harris Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco 550
Lapland Longspur 1
Red-winged Blackbird 220
Meadowlark species 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
House Finch 17
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 16
House Sparrow 119
total individuals 48027
Total Species 64
Species seen count week
Swamp Sparrow, Northern Goshawk, Gray Partridge(possible)
December 27
Norfolk CBC
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001
Subject: [NEBirds] Norfolk Count
Norfolk Count was held on Dec 27 and had just over 50 species (final
tally
from all was not in). Best birds included :
1 Northern Goshawk - Stanton Co.
7 White-winged Crossbills - Madison Co. Norfolk Lutheran Cemetery
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler - Stanton Co. Peace Church Cemetery
12 Lapland Longspurs - Pierce Co.
Mark A. Brogie
Creighton Community Schools
HOME:
1609 Redick Ave., Box 10
508 Seely, Box 316
Creighton, NE 68729
Creighton, NE 68729
(402) 358-3663
(402) 358-5675
FAX (402) 358-3804
mbrogie(at)esu1.o r g
December 29
Calamus CBC
From: "Harding and Randolph" marshwren(at)nctc. n e t
Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002
Subject: [NEBirds] Calamus Christmas Count
Nebraska birders,
The Calamus Christmas Count was held on December 29.
Lanny and I may be the only Calamus CBC counters that are on the
NeBirds list. Norma Brockmoller has the official final tally
but
below are some of the highlights. It was quite cold and there
was
much ice on the lake and rivers, in fact, there were only a few
open spots out in the middle of the lake. I believe the final
count
was fifty species including White-fronted Goose, Cooper's Hawk,
Golden Eagle, Greater Prairie-Chicken, Northern Bobwhite, Common
Snipe, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Townsend's Solitaire,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Song Sparrow, Common Grackle and Pine Siskin.
There were lots of Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers,
American Crows and American Robins.
Robin Harding
Gibbon, NE
From: Bruce Walgren
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Subject: Crawford CBC date set
Dear All,
For those do not know, Donna and I have taken over the job of compiler
for the
Crawford Christmas Bird Count - we did our first count last year.
We have set
the date for this years' count as Saturday December 29, 2001.
We will meet in
the parking lot across from the Veterinary Hospital at Fort Robinson
at 7:30 AM.
We can obviously use help, even for part of a day. If you are
interested, or
know someone who might be interested, please let me know. We
can even make some
publicity posters for anyone who might want them if you might have
a place to
put one. Also, if you think it might help, we could place a notice
in the local
paper(s). We can also provide anyone interested a map of the
CBC circle - the
center is located at the intersection of Highways 71 and 20 just south
of Crawford.
We plan on meeting with the folks at Fort Robinson State Park soon
to find out
where they may NOT want us to go do to possible conflicts with Bison
or Longhorns,
etc.
Hope this finds you all well and hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Bruce & Donna Walgren
bwalgren(at)coffey. c o m
PS: Wonder if NOU or Audubon Nebraska might want to post the dates
& contacts of
CBCs on their web sites?