Norfolk Meeting

The 2002 Spring Meeting will be held in Norfolk on May 17-19.   On Friday evening, registration will take place at a reception at the Willetta Lueshen Bird Library located in the Elkhorn Valley Museum.  Refreshments will be provided by the Lueshen's Birders and you will have a chance to look around the library and museum.  Lodging will be at a motel of your choice (details to follow in the next newsletter).  Field trips will be held on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Our presentations on Saturday afternoon and evening, as well as our meals, will be at the Lifelong Learning Center on the campus of Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

Welcome to the Following New Members!

     F.D. (Ferdinand) Dirckx, Broomfield, CO
    Georgianne Meyer, Bellevue
    Terry & Theresa Fichtner, Bartley
    Melissa Armstrong, Norfolk

Nominating Committee Formed

A nominating committee consisting of Sharon Draper, Nelli Falzgraf and Jim Kovanda will be working this month to assemble a slate of officers to be voted on at the spring meeting.  Please give them your cooperation if they should happen to call you.  In other words,  just say "yes!"

Mark your calendars:  Fall Field Days will be held at Halsey on Sept. 6-8

Member News

We were pleased to hear in December from some NOU members who no longer live in Nebraska.  Rick Wright and his wife Alison live in Princeton, New Jersey.  Rick reports that he left his job at Princeton University's Index of Christian Art to accept a new appointment as Associate Professor of German and Medieval Studies at Fordham University, while Alison continues her graduate work at Princeton.  Rick says that working in New York City has its own peculiar problems, magnified and multiplied, obviously, since the events of September.  He reports, however, that they are "bearing up well--even if commuting between the ranges of two different chickadees can be a bit disorienting."

After a sad spring of 2001 due to the untimely loss of Rick's father, Rick and Alison spent the summer birding in southern France, Nebraska, Montana, and British Columbia.  For birders interested in a field trip to New Jersey, Rick mentions that they have an extra bedroom, and are always eager to see old friends and new from the NOU.  In Rick's words:  "If the draw of affection isn't enough, we are only an hour from the Jersey shore, two hours from Cape May, and an hour from the Kittatinny:  it's the best birding on the continent." (What an offer!)

In case you want to take them up on their generous offer, their phone number in Princeton is (609) 279-0187, Rick's at Fordham is (718) 817-2656, and their email addresses are: anzyleduc@hotmail.com; aawright@fordham.edu; beringer@princeton.edu.

Watch for Rick's review of the The Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas in the April issue of "Birding" magazine.

    One kind word can warm three winter months.
        -Japanese proverb

Conserving Nongame Wildlife

 Nebraska's Game and Parks Commission needs your help in conserving nongame wildlife.  Protecting this precious component of the state's wildlife demands spending 10 times or more of what we currently can afford.  Nongame species include the majority of the state's birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish - those species not commonly hunted, trapped, or fished.  Insects, invertebrates such as mussels, and plants also fall under the nongame category.  By law, revenue from hunting and fishing licenses - which is more than 30 times revenue for nongame species - cannot be spent directly on nongame.  This makes the Nongame & Endangered Species Conservation Fund the state's primary source of funding for monitoring, studying, and conserving such spectacular species as the Whooping Crane, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, swift fox, river otter, Western prairie fringed orchid, and blowout penstemon.

 The Fund also supports tracking the distribution and abundance of over 550 species that are rare, threatened, or endangered in Nebraska like yellow mud turtles, Salt Creek tiger beetles, short-horned lizards, and southern flying squirrels.  Many of these 550 species have already disappeared from neighboring states.  Contributions to the Nongame Fund have been declining, putting in jeopardy the future of this critical monitoring, and the future for these species in Nebraska.  Ironically, federal matching funds for nongame wildlife are increasing but our ability to take advantage of
them lessens as we have fewer state funds with which to provide the necessary match.  Never has the Nongame Fund been so important!

 Nongame funds do not just pay for monitoring rare or declining species.  Specific projects made possible by these funds in 2001 include:

* bird community surveys of the short-grass prairies of western Nebraska, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, focusing on Mountain Plovers, Ferruginous Hawks, Burrowing Owls and longspurs.  This program also includes outreach to private landowners to promote management practices that benefit grassland birds.

* an extensive search for new populations of the endangered American burying beetles and study of the habitats they need to survive.  Nebraska is one of the last refuges for this species, although it formerly ranged across much of the eastern United States.

* the development of a conservation plan for the black-tailed prairie dog that would prevent its further decline in Nebraska and help safe-guard its prairie habitat;

* a study of the population dynamics and habitat needs of the ornate box turtle.  This species has one of its last strongholds in Nebraska's grasslands;

* the publishing of Nebraska's Breeding Bird Atlas, an effort to map in detail for the first time all of Nebraska's breeding birds.

 Nongame funds have also been used to build conservation partnerships and heighten environmental awareness among Nebraskans.  The Nongame Bird Conservation and Education Program, a partnership between NGPC and the
University of Nebraska, is dedicated to increasing the awareness, appreciation and stewardship of Nebraska's birds through education, outreach and conservation.  The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership brings private industry together with wildlife managers and educators to address the challenges of endangered species management in a
non-confrontational manner.  This partnership has also brought together volunteers from the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Wachiska Audubon, Omaha Audubon and the Girl Scouts to help protect Least Tern and Piping Plover nest sites at sand and gravel mining operations.  The Nebraska Bluebird Directory, containing results of Bluebirds Across Nebraska's statewide breeding survey, is printed and distributed annually with
nongame funding.

 Contributions to the Nongame & Endangered Species Conservation Fund can be made by:

1. Looking for the "Check for Wildlife" symbol on your state income tax return (or alerting your tax preparer) and designating all or part of your refund to the Fund.  It's as easy as writing in the amount.

2. Sending a check, payable to the "Nongame Species Conservation Fund", directly to the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, PO Box 30370, Lincoln, NE, 68503-0370.

 Remember, anyone can contribute, and every dollar goes directly to conserving Nebraska's nongame wildlife.  You can make a difference!

 Olin Sewall Pettingill   1907-2001

 Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr., Ph.D., renowned ornithologist and teacher, passed away December 11th in Bedford, TX.  He was 94.

 Dr. Pettingill was born in Belgrade, Maine, on Oct. 30, 1907.  He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1930 and received a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1933.  Honorary doctor of science degrees were awarded by Bowdoin College in 1956, Colby College in 1979 and the University of Maine in 1982.

 Dr. Pettingill taught ornithology at Carleton College for 17 years and at the University of Michigan Biological Station for 35 summers.  He was director of the famed Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University from 1960 to 1973.  Pettingill served on the National Audubon Society Board of Directors for 19 years (1955-1974).

 Dr. Pettingill's classic textbook Ornithology in Laboratory and Field (1939) was the longest-lived textbook of its kind, entering its fifth printing in 1985.  His two-volume work, A Guide to Bird Finding East of the Mississippi (1951) and A Guide to Bird Finding West of the Mississippi (1953), was the first of its kind to give specific information on when and where to find different species of birds in each of the 48 contiguous states.  A more recent book titled My Way to
Ornithology (1992) is an autobiography covering his early life as a boy through his college years up to the time he started teaching at Carleton College.

 Dr. Pettingill lectured regularly for the National Audubon Society until 1978.  A distinguished wildlife photographer, his camera work took him to Hudson Bay, Mexico, Iceland, the mid-Pacific, New Zealand, Argentina, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica.  He produced works on albatross, penguins, the wildlife of New Zealand, the wildlife of Iceland, and other topics.  His work can be seen in the popular Walt Disney documentary shorts, "Nature's Half Acre", "Water Birds", "The Vanishing Prairie", and "Islands of the Sea".

 In 1945 Dr. Pettingill did reasearch in Nebraska on Whooping Cranes and was made an honorary member of the NOU in 1947.  For further information, see the article in the February 2002 issue of "Birding" magazine.

NOU  MEMBERSHIP  RENEWALS  DUE  NOW!
Please renew my membership in the category checked below:

___ One Active Member  $15                ___ Family Active  $20
___ One Sustaining Member  $25            ___ Family Sustaining  $30
___ Student Member  $10                        ___ Life Member  $250

Name
_______________________________________________________________________

Address
_____________________________________________________________________

City  _____________________________ State  ____________________  Zip _____________

Telephone (______)___________________________ Email ____________________________

Please make check payable to NOU and mail with this form to:
  Betty Grenon,  1409 Childs Road East,  Bellevue,  NE  68005-4418

The Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas 1984-1989      by  Wayne J. Mollhoff

Please send me  _____   books at $29.00 each.

Price includes $25.00 per book plus $4.00 postage and sales tax.

Name _____________________________________________________________

Address____________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip ______________________________________________________

Please make check payable to NOU.    Return this form with check to:
NOU Librarian,  c/o University of Nebraska State Museum,  W-436
Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE  68588-0514

President and Newsletter Editor:
Janis Paseka, 1585 Co. Rd. 14 Blvd., Ames,  NE  68621,  Phone:  402-727-9229
E-mail Address:  paseka@tvsonline.net

Vice-President:
Alice Kenitz, 190648 Co. Rd. 22,  Gering,  NE  69341,    Phone:  308-436-2959
E-mail Address:  akenitz@prairieweb.com

Secretary:
Mitzi Fox, Rt. 2, Box 36, Albion,  NE  68620,    Phone:   402-395-2395
E-mail Address:  mitzi@albion.net

Treasurer:
Betty Grenon, 1409 Childs Road East, Bellevue,  NE  68005,    Phone:   402-731-2383
E-mail Address:  grenon925@aol.com

Editor, Bird Review:
William Clemente, Box 10, Peru State College, Peru,  NE  68421    Phone:   402-872-2233  Work
402-872-3073 Home,    E-mail Address:  clemente@bobcat.peru.edu
 

Librarian:
Mary Lou Pritchard, 6325 O St., Lincoln,  NE  68510    Phone:  402-540-9157 State Museum
402-486-2428   Home

Past Presidents:
Clem Klaphake, 707 Garden Ave., Bellevue,  NE  68005    Phone:  402-292-2276
E-mail Address:  cnk@scholars.bellevue.edu

Betty Allen, 9628 Emmet St., Omaha,  NE  68134    Phone:   402-571-9755
E-mail Address:  lizprints@webtv.net

Directors:
Mark Brogie, Box 316, Creighton,  NE  68729    Phone:  402-358-5675
E-mail Address:  mbrogie@mother.esu1.k12.ne.us

Steve Lamphere, 3101 Washington St., Apt. 98, Bellevue, NE  68005   Phone:  402-291-9149

Jan Uttecht, Box 823, Stanton, NE  68779   Phone: 402-439-2114

Records Committee:
Joel Jorgensen, Chairman, 1218 Jackson, Blair, NE  68008,  Phone:  402-426-5138
E-mail Address:  zrtac@genesisnet.net

Breeding Bird Atlas Project and Nest Records Committee:
Wayne Mollhoff, 1817 Boyd St., Ashland, NE  68003,  Phone:  402-944-2243
E-mail Address:  wmollhoff@netscape.net

Occurrence Reports:
Ross Silcock, P.O. Box 57, Tabor , IA  51653,  Phone:   712-629-5865
E-mail Address:  silcock@rosssilcock.com

Nebraska Birdline:
Loren and Babs Padelford, 1405 Little John Road, Bellevue,  NE  68005,  Phone:  402-292-5325 Birdline
402-292-5556 Home,    E-mail Address: lpdlfrd@juno.com

NOU Website:          http://rip.physics.unk.edu/NOU/