Nongame Bird Blog

Spring is a terrific time for birds and birding.  I am currently in the middle of highlighting five birding trips and experiences that all outdoor enthusiasts should consider attempting this year.  Certainly there are hundreds more out there for the taking, but I’ll start slow.  Now is time to pencil in dates and make plans.   Essential spring birding trips #1 and #2 focused on migration spectacles, #3 is focused on prairie grouse courtship and #4 returns to the Rainwater Basin …

Last week, I was in Galveston, Texas, for the Central Flyway meeting and I had the opportunity to spend a little over 24 hours searching for “our” Piping Plovers in nearby wintering habitats.  Lauren Dinan and I have blogged (for example, here and here) about our Piping Plover color-banding program we do in collaboration with the University of Nebraska’s Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership.  We color-band Piping Plovers on and along the lower Platte River in eastern Nebraska, where they …

Most Nongame Bird Program responsibilities are tasks we rarely, if ever, discuss or draw attention to in a public setting such as this one.  In most cases the reasons are obvious.  A quick way to bore everyone is to to discuss the thrills of data management or write about the excitement of reading a lengthy proposed regulation in the Federal Register.  Sometimes the task seems ordinary and perfunctory.  Such is the case with what we do with dead eagles.  It …

Over President’s Day weekend, a key associate and I took a birding trip to Nebraska’s western reservoirs.  We visited Lakes McConaughy and Ogallala, which were both iced over with the exception of a little open water in the spillway.  On the evening of 15 February, we observed an odd puddle duck which I identified as a “Brewer’s Duck”.  Perhaps you’ve never heard of this species and there is good reason.  “Brewer’s Duck” is the name John James Audubon gave a …

Spring is a terrific time for birds and birding.  I am currently in the middle of highlighting five birding trips and experiences that all outdoor enthusiasts should consider attempting this year.  Certainly there are hundreds more out there for the taking, but I’ll start slow.  Now that we are in the latter days of winter, it is time to pencil in dates and make plans.   Essential spring birding trips #1 and #2 focused on migration spectacles, #3 is focused on …

Contributed by Lauren Dinan, Nongame Bird Biologist Erwin has been spotted once again in sunny Florida. For those of you that do not know, Erwin is “our” famous Piping Plover that was banded at a lakeshore housing development in Dodge County, Nebraska, as a three-day old chick in June 2011.  This one bird has been observed spending the winter at Bunche Beach near Fort Myers, Florida, the last three years in a row.  Erwin was spotted for the first time …

Spring is a terrific time for birds and birding.  Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting five birding trips and experiences that all outdoor enthusiasts should consider attempting this year.  Certainly there are hundreds more out there for the taking, but I’ll start slow.  Now that we are in the latter days of winter, it is time to pencil in dates and make plans.   I began with #1 and now #2 is up today and may occur at …

Spring is a terrific time for birds and birding.  Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting five birding trips and experiences that all outdoor enthusiasts should consider attempting this year.  Certainly there are hundreds more out there for the taking, but I’ll start slow.  Now that we are in the latter days of winter, it is time to pencil in dates and make plans.   I begin at #1 with the most famous and familiar and I will end …

I blogged earlier this year that Nebraska is west of this year’s Snowy Owl invasion.  Over the past week, there have been two new Nebraska reports to add to the single one from December.  The first was reported to NEbirds and involved an owl at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on 28 January 2014.  The owl was apparently photographed.  The second report actually occurred earlier, but just reached my desk over the weekend.   Judy Blunk was the lucky observer and found …

The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a long-term, volunteer-driven bird monitoring program conducted throughout North America.  BBS data are used widely by wildlife agencies, researchers, birders and conservation planners.  I use BBS data all the time, including in my recent blog post about Black-capped Chickadees.  The program began in 1966 and more information about the BBS can be found here.  I am the state BBS coordinator and perhaps my principal duty is to identify and recruit individuals to fill vacant …