THE BIRDS OF NEBRASKA
AND ADJACENT PLAINS STATES
Paul A. Johnsgard

• Table of Contents
• Vegetation and Topography of Nebraska
• Definitions of Terms Used in the Text
• List of Species
• References

This summary of the birds of Nebraska grew out of the research associated with the writing of my Birds of the Great Plains: Breeding Species and Their Distribution (University of Nebraska Press, 1979). Inasmuch as the only previous comprehensive summary of Nebraska's birds, the "Revised Check-list of Nebraska Birds" (Occasional Papers of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, 1958) was about 40 years old, and has since received only a minimal revision that covered the period to 1970, it seemed apparent to me that a completely new list of birds of the state should be prepared. In my view, this would include a fairly detailed statement of the ranges of the breeding species insofar as they are now understood, a more objective separation of abundance categories for the relatively rarer species, a summary of migration data for all migratory species, and a brief statement of habitats used by each species while it is in Nebraska.

With that in mind, I prepared a list that attempted to provide this information, not only for Nebraska but also the adjoining Plains States from North Dakota south though Oklahoma (Johnsgard, 1980). For my present purposes this list has been restricted to those species that have been convincingly reported at least once in Nebraska from historic times to the present. It has also been modified in its current revision to conform more closely in that regard to the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union's "Official" list of the birds of Nebraska (NOU Records Committee, 1997). Like mine, that list (of 427 species) is quite restrictive, and is based on actual specimen evidence or some other convincing basis of each species' proven occurrence in the state. My list likewise totals nearly 430 species, including 54 apparently "accidental" (vagrant) species, and nine extinct, extirpated or probably extirpated species. In addition there are 27 "hypothetical" species, and four unsuccessfully introduced species. Some of the newer records (especially since l980) of relatively rare species have not been individually listed in this present revision; these have been fully summarized by Bray et al. (l986) as well as in the "Official" list of Nebraska birds. Three species accepted by Bray et al. (sharp-tailed sandpiper, band-tailed pigeon and sage sparrow) are considered hypothetical here, and the mottled duck record is regarded as a probable hybrid. The latest A.O.U. taxonomy (American Ornithologists' Union, 1997) is followed here.