Dedicated to the Study, Appreciation and Protection of Birds
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Newsletter
April 2009 Number 2
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New Members
Welcome to these new members
Kenneth Carnes of Lincoln
Keith Dyche of Shenandoah, IA.
Kathleen Harris of Marquette
Kayleen Niyo of Golden, CO.
Richard & Sue Darling of North Platte
William Fink of Longmont, CO.
Gerald Jorgensen of Lincoln
Ben Brogie of Creighton
Duane Wolff of Norfolk
Jack Bly of LaCrescent, MN.
Dr. Ronald Weedon of Chadron
Mark and Doreen Pfost of Kearney
NOU Events
Ashland Fall Meeting, September 26-28, 2008
September 26-28, 2008 we met at Camp Carol Joy Holling near Ashland for our Fall meeting also known as Fall Field Days. We had fun talking to old friends, making new friends, eating excellent food, looking for and finding birds (some birds you’d have to call good birds and others you would have to say “all birds are good birds”) and listening to interesting speakers. Of course my favorite part of any meeting is the birds. I remember two personal highlights of the birds. One was two sightings of Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow. It was possible that both sightings were of the same bird since they were in the same general area and only about a half hour apart in time. My other bird highlight was the entertaining debate about Black Rail. I didn’t see it but I most certainly heard about it. My favorite place that we visited was Jack Sinn WMA on Sunday morning. I had visited there once before in the past. But it was much better this time, there was a lot more water. Earlier I said that the food was good. The food was not just good food for a camp, it was good food.
York Spring Meeting, May 15-17, 2009
I have written an article about our upcoming spring meeting. But then I saw a message that Robin Harding had written for possible submission to Nebraska Birds or NeBirds, a state birding list serve. I thought that it was so good that I am putting it here before my article. If you read Robin’s much shorter article and decide that you just must attend the York Spring Meeting then you won’t have to read mine and you can skip right ahead.
You are invited to the York area for good birding with enthusiastic
birders and two great programs May 15, 16 and 17. The occasion is
the annual spring meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union.
The event will be based at the Country Kitchen in York with field trips
to the Rainwater Basin and the Platte River led by local experts Joel Jorgensen,
Ross Silcock, Kent Skaggs and Mary Bomberger Brown. The evening programs
are by Dan Kim on cowbird parasitism and Tim Gallagher on the Ivory-billed
Woodpecker. Both promise to be captivating. And if that wasn't
enough, there will be a silent auction for two photographs by world renowned
photographer Mike Forsberg.
by Robin Harding
May 15-17,2009 we will meet near York at the Country Kitchen which is
a half mile north of the York I-80 exit on highway 181. The Nebraska
Rain Water Basin is a special place. I learned to bird in a different
part of the Nebraska Rain Water Basin. Because I learned that way,
I learned a deep appreciation for shorebirds. Spring in the Rain
Water Basin looking for shorebirds is a special time in a special place
with special birds. And it is even better when you can share it with
friends. Even if you have never been to an NOU meeting don’t worry.
If you appreciate birds at whatever level, it isn’t difficult to make new
friends at an NOU meeting. Did I mention shorebirds, at this coming
meeting there will be
about forty species possibly seen and about thirty species likely seen.
Friday and Saturday evenings we will be entertained and enlightened by Dan Kim on Friday and Tim Gallagher on Saturday. Dan Kim is an ornithologist with the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust. He has spoken at least once before at an NOU meeting. He will discuss grassland birds, management practices of grasslands and parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Saturday’s program will be of particular interest to me. Tim Gallagher is the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Living Bird magazine editor and he will discuss the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
About ten years ago I remember bringing up that I wished that someday we would again see Eskimo Curlews. A man who I like and respect a great deal and also happens to be a professional ornithologist gave me an impromptu lecture on given the coverage by birders in the U.S. how unlikely and probably impossible it is for a bird not seen for so long in this area could still be alive somewhere here. Now I realize given the migratory nature of Eskimo Curlews that they cannot be compared with Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, but it makes me wonder how many professional ornithologists have made similar statements and how many masters theses and doctoral dissertations have been written on extinction and I admire the courage of Tim Gallagher for even looking for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.
There are organized field trips for all day Saturday and in the morning Sunday. Joel Jorgensen, Ross Silcock and Kent Skaggs will divide the eastern part of the Rain Water Basin for little overlap. You may not understand the opportunity we are being given here to learn how to find birds in the Nebraska Rain Water Basin from the best at doing just that. I have twenty years experience birding in the Rain Water Basin and I have no doubt that I will learn a great deal more about it the third weekend in May. Mary Bomberger Brown will lead field trips to the Platte River. I do not know but I would assume because of her area of expertise that Mary Bomberger Brown may well have staked out positions for Least Tern and Piping Plover plus direction on how best to view them without disturbance.
There will be a silent auction at the Spring NOU meeting with the proceeds going to the NOU. Two framed photographs kindly donated by Michael and Patty Forsberg will be available to the highest bidders. Please bring your checkbooks and bid high and often!
The registration form for the meeting is on the front side of the back
page of this newsletter. A list of nice motels with close access
to the meeting site is on the page just before that. I am looking
forward to seeing you folks at the meeting.
Tentative Schedule For Spring Meeting
Friday, May 15
4:30 p.m. Registration
6:00 p.m. Supper
7:00 p.m. Dan Kim
8:15 p.m. Board of Directors meeting
Saturday, May 16
6:00 a.m. Breakfast - pick up sack lunches
6:45 a.m. Field trips leave
5:30 p.m. General Business Meeting
6:30 p.m. Supper
7:30 p.m. Tim Gallagher
Sunday, May 17
6:00 a.m. Breakfast - pick up sack lunches
6:45 a.m. Field trips leave
12:00 p.m. final tally (since this is a tentative
schedule, the door
prize drawing may be after the tally - final
schedule decisions will be made before the
meeting and announced at the meeting)
Valentine Fall Meeting 2009
Our Fall meeting also known as Fall Field Days is set for September
18-20, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Express. That is one of the best areas
in the state to find east meets west. I remember well at the Vallentine
hatcheries hearing an Eastern Wood Pewee, moving about 35 yards and hearing
a Western Wood Pewee.
Nominations Committee
Our current N.O.U. nominations committee, Don Paseka, Helen Hughson
and Neal Ratzlaff, has submitted a slate of nominees for the term beginning
immediately following the 2009 Spring meeting and ending immediately following
the 2010 Spring meeting (except directors terms which are three
years - a different one of the three ends each year). The
nominees are: Urban Lehner for President, Nancy Leonard for
Vice President, Kevin Poague for Secretary, Betty Grennon for Treasurer,
Janis Paseka for NBR Editor, Anita Breckbill for Librarian and Steve Lamphere
for Director. The election of Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union officers
will be held during the 2009 business meeting which takes place during
the 2009 Spring meeting. Any further nominations will be heard before
the election.
NOU Meeting Student Scholarships
Scholarship money is available to help defray the cost of attending
NOU meetings for full-time students. As many students as apply can
be accommodated. Past scolarship recipients can apply again.
Interested persons should contact Lanny Randolph at snowbunting(at)rcom-ne.com
or (308)216-0427 or 2028 34th Road, Minden, NE 68959. They need to
send a letter stating why they wish to go to the meeting.
OOPS
In the last newsletter I had intended to include a form for submitting
2008 Nebraska life-lists and county lists if you so choose. So here
it is now on the following page.
NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION COUNTY LIFE-LIST TOTALS
Report only those counties with 125 or more species.
Do not count new species seen after December 31, 2008
1. _____ Adams
32. _____ Frontier 63.
_____ Nance
2. _____ Antelope 33. _____ Furnas
64. _____ Nemaha
3. _____ Arthur 34.
_____ Gage
65. _____ Nuckolls
4. _____ Banner 35.
_____ Garden
66. _____ Otoe
5. _____ Blaine 36.
_____ Garfield 67. _____
Pawnee
6. _____ Boone
37. _____ Gosper
68. _____ Perkins
7. _____ Box Butte 38. _____ Grant
69. _____ Phelps
8. _____ Boyd
39. _____ Greeley
70. _____ Pierce
9. _____ Brown
40. _____ Hall
71. _____ Platte
10. _____ Buffalo 41. _____ Hamilton
72. _____ Polk
11. _____ Burt
42. _____ Harlan
73. _____ Red Willow
12. _____ Butler 43. _____
Hayes
74. _____ Richardson
13. _____ Cass
44. _____ Hitchcock 75. _____
Rock
14. _____ Cedar 45.
_____ Holt
76. _____ Saline
15. _____ Chase 46.
_____ Hooker
77. _____ Sarpy
16. _____ Cherry 47. _____
Howard 78.
_____ Saunders
17. _____ Cheyenne 48. _____ Jefferson
79. _____ Scotts Bluff
18. _____ Clay
49. _____ Johnson
80. _____ Seward
19. _____ Colfax 50. _____
Kearney 81. _____
Sheridan
20. _____ Cuming 51. _____
Keith
82. _____ Sherman
21. _____ Custer 52. _____
Keya Paha 83. _____ Sioux
22. _____ Dakota 53. _____
Kimball 84. _____
Stanton
23. _____ Dawes 54.
_____ Knox
85. _____ Thayer
24. _____ Dawson 55. _____
Lancaster 86. _____ Thomas
25. _____ Deuel 56.
_____ Lincoln 87.
_____ Thurston
26. _____ Dixon 57.
_____ Logan
88. _____ Valley
27. _____ Dodge 58.
_____ Loup
89. _____ Washington
28. _____ Douglas 59. _____ McPherson
90. _____ Wayne
29. _____ Dundy 60.
_____ Madison 91.
_____ Webster
30. _____ Fillmore 61. _____ Merrick
92. _____ Wheeler
31. _____ Franklin 62. _____ Morrill
93. _____ York
Total Nebraska County number: _____________(500 minimum) Add totals of all species for EVERY (including those below 125) county visited: For example if you have seen 100 species of Nebraska birds in every Nebraska county your total county number would be 100 X 93 = 9,300.
Nebraska LIFE LIST total:__________(250 minimum),
Total of all species EVER seen in Nebraska.
Nebraska 2008 total:__________ (100 minimum). Total of all species
seen in Nebraska in 2008.
Call, Send, or E-Mail Totals to:
Mark A. Brogie
508 Seeley, Box 316
Creighton, NE 68729
(402) 358-5675
email: mbrogie(at)esu1.org
Spring Meeting: motels close by the meeting room
Yorkshire Inn-Motel - 402 S. Lincoln Ave. - This one is in the same parking lot as the Country Kitchen that our meeting room is in. Call (888)362-6633 for reservations by May 7 and mention the NOU conference to receive a discount.
Super 8 - 4112 S. Lincoln Ave. - (402)362-3388
Holiday Inn - 4619 S. Lincoln Ave. - Another name for this one is the York Inn. For reservations call (402)362-6661 if you are calling from inside Nebraska, call (877)276-1817 if you are calling from outside.
Days Inn - 3710 S. Lincoln Ave. - (402)362-6355
Comfort Inn - 3815 S. Lincoln Ave. - (877)424-6423
Palmer Inn Motel - 2426 S. Lincoln Ave. - (402)362-5585
Camelot Inn - 4817 South Lincoln Ave. - (402)362-6885
NOU membership renewals
NOU membership renewals are due the first day of each year. Your
expiration date is on your address label on this newsletter. A form
for starting or renewing NOU membership follows.
Warning - The membership renewal form
and the county life-list totals
form are on oposite sides of the same page of this newsletter and they
are to be sent to different addresses. If you wish to use both forms,
use a copy machine on one or both forms or use the NOU website at http://RIP.physics.UNK.edu/NOU
to print off one or both forms.
NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION MEMBERSHIP
INFORMATION
Please enter my membership in the category checked below:
_____One Active Member $15.00 _____Family
Active $20.00
_____One Sustaining Member $25.00 _____Family Sustaining $30.00
_____Student Member $10.00
_____Life Member $250.00
Name____________________________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip Code________________________________________________________
Telephone__________________________e-mail__________________________________
Make checks payable to Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union and return
with this form to:
Betty Grenon
1409 Childs Road East
Bellevue, NE 68005