birds of nebraska online: introductionnebraska’s birds, their distribution and temporal occurrence...

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Birds of Nebraska Online: Introduction

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by

Copyright © 2018 by the authors. All rights reserved. Version 1.0 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to the authors

BirdsofNebaska.org

W. Ross Silcock P.O. Box 57

Tabor, IA 51653

[email protected]

Joel G. Jorgensen Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Lincoln, NE 68503

[email protected]

&

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the contribution of a number of individuals. Mary Bomberger Brown, Stephen J. Dinsmore, Lauren R. Dinan, Angela Dwyer, Jeffrey J. Lusk, and Mark P. Vrtiska all reviewed and provided helpful comments for individual species accounts. Wayne Mollhoff provided helpful information from his many years of important work on Nebraska’s breeding birds. Mark A. Brogie shared his expertise about a number of rare bird occurrences. Mary Bomberger Brown and Ted LaGrange reviewed and provided helpful comments that improved the Introduction. Rachel Simpson reviewed maps and provided comments that improved their presentation. Thomas Labedz facilitated access to and provided insights about specimens at the University of Nebraska State Museum. Troy Kroeger and Cara Pesek were critical in creating the online platform on the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website. Joel Jorgensen would also like to thank the support he received from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to work on this project over the last few years. We wish to acknowledge the contribution of our late co-author on the original Birds of Nebraska: Their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence, Dr. Roger S. Sharpe. Many of Roger’s contributions on the original edition remain important in this revised version. Finally, we wish to thank all the like-minded individuals that share a common interest in Nebraska’s birds and who have reported observations and shared their insights, either formally through written discourse or informally in casual conversation. Collectively, these individual observations and perspectives have contributed to this project and are important in summarizing the status and distribution of Nebraska’s birds.

Contents

Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………... 4

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 4

Setting………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

History of Nebraska ornithology…………………………………………………………………………………… 10

How to use species accounts……………………………………………………………………………………..... 14

Literature cited…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25

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Preface

Nebraska has a rich history of bird study that extends over two centuries. Periodically, individuals have attempted to synthesize all existing and available information about Nebraska’s birds, their distribution and temporal occurrence and provide it in a format that was both usable and informative. Previously, those efforts would result in a hard-copy publication, but since the observation of birds is never-ending, those publications immediately become dated. Here, with the Birds of Nebraska — Online (BirdofNebraska.org), we are providing a traditional state bird reference in an open-access format on an online platform with stand-alone species accounts that we intend to update periodically. This general format is similar to the Birds of North America Online, but without a subscription fee. We believe the accessibility, flexibility and efficiency of this format greatly outweighs any shortcomings and makes the decision to publish the Birds of Nebraska — Online in this manner and form straightforward. The Birds of Nebraska — Online is a complete revision to our previous work, Birds of Nebraska: Their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence (Sharpe et al. 2001), which was co-authored with the late Roger S. Sharpe and published by the University of Nebraska Press.

Introduction

By the end of 2017, Nebraska had an official state bird list that includes 461 species. Of this total, approximately 350 occur annually and about 200 regularly breed in the state. In addition to accepted species, there are others that have been unsuccessfully introduced, unacceptably documented, or species whose origin was in question. In all, the Birds of Nebraska — Online includes 511 individual species accounts. These species accounts generally follow the format used by Sharpe et al (2001) and readers are referred to that work for in-depth introductory sections on Nebraska’s physical environment, biological communities, and history of ornithology. In addition to what is found in Sharpe et al (2001), we provide below a brief overview of our study area, Nebraska, as well as information supplemental to Sharpe et al (2001) that has become available since that volume was published. Finally, we provide a“how to use species accounts” section that describes the format and style conventions of the species accounts included in Birds of Nebraska — Online.

Setting

Nebraska is located near the geographic center of North America and totals 200,365 square kilometers (77,358 square miles) and is divided into 93 counties (Figure 1). The human population totals 1.8 million as of the 2010 census (U.S. Census 2017), and resides primarily in the east, especially in the state’s largest cities of Omaha and Lincoln. Large portions of the north-central part of the state do not have any cities > 5,000 residents (Figure 2). Nebraska generally slopes gently downhill from west to east (Figure 3), with the state’s lowest elevation, less than 260 meters (850 feet) above sea level, located in the far southeast tip in

https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/home

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Richardson County (Condra 1906). The highest elevation of more than 1,615 meters (5300 feet) above sea level is found in southwest Kimball County near the Colorado and Wyoming borders (Condra 1906). As a result of the general slope, Nebraska is drained from west to east by several major mid-continental rivers that include the Niobrara, Platte, Republican, and their tributaries, and portions of other rivers such as the Little Blue, Big Blue, Big Nemaha, and Little Nemaha (Figure 4, 5). All rivers found in Nebraska eventually drain into the Missouri River, which also defines the state’s eastern boundary with Iowa, Missouri, and South Dakota. Historically, the overwhelming majority of the landscape of Nebraska was prairie (Figure 6). Tallgrass prairie covered about the eastern third of the state and transitioned to mixed-grass prairie in central Nebraska and eventually gave way to shortgrass prairie in the west (Schneider et al 2011). Relatively small areas of oak-hickory and riparian forests were present primarily in the east, especially along river and stream corridors. In the west, pine woodland and savannah were found on escarpments in the Panhandle. In the middle portion of the Niobrara River, a mixing of eastern, western, and remnant northern ecological communities is present as a result of long-term climate shifts over millennia (Schneider et al 2011).

Nebraska’s contemporary vegetation is both different and unchanged from what was present historically (Figure 7). Large areas with soils and topography favorable to row crop agriculture have been converted, especially in the east and south-central where corn and soybean production dominates the landscape in areas that were formerly tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie. Agricultural development has also greatly altered many of the riverine and aquatic systems in the state (Archer et al 2017). Many wetlands were drained or filled to prevent flooding of crops (LaGrange 2005). In other areas, river flows were diverted and reservoirs and canals were created to store and deliver water needed to sustain crops during growing seasons.

Areas of the state not compatible with row–crop agriculture, either because of poor soils, steep topography, or both, retain much of their native vegetative communities. For example, the Sandhills of north-central Nebraska remain largely intact. Upland oak-hickory forest is still present in areas of the east were it occurred historically, but in some areas, especially near large cities such as Omaha and Bellevue, it is fragmented due to residential development. Escarpments in the west also retain vegetation communities similar to what was present historically. However, lack of fire for decades has resulted in overly dense stands of pines and cedars in many areas and, more recently, catastrophic fires have burned large tracts.

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Figure 1. Nebraska Counties

Figure 2. Spatial distribution of cities with > 5,000 residents in 2010.

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Figure 3. Elevational relief of Nebraska. Lowest elevations above sea level are in the southeast and are colored dark green. Highest elevations above sea level are in the west and are colored dark red.

Figure 4. Rivers and major streams of Nebraska.

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Figures 5. River and major stream drainages of Nebraska. Different colors represent different drainages. Names of river and major stream drainages can be found in Figure 4.

Figure 6. Native vegetation of Nebraska. Map based on data from Kaul and Rolfsmeier (1983) and used

with permission from R. Kaul, University of Nebraska, and Les Howard, Conservation and Survey

Division, University of Nebraska.

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Figure 7. Contemporary land-use and/or vegetation of Nebraska. Map based on 2005 Gap Analysis Program (GAP) of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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History of Nebraska Ornithology

Here, we add the following sections on W. Edgar Taylor and Daniel H. Talbot to the biographies included in “Late University Period: 1860-1915” (see Sharpe et al 2001).

W. Edgar Taylor

Little appears to be known about W. Edgar Taylor, who was a Professor of Natural

History and Geology at Nebraska State Normal School, now Peru State College, at Peru,

Nebraska, for at least four years around 1892. Professor Taylor produced the first

annotated list of the birds of Nebraska (Taylor 1888). Oddly, the only citation of this list

by subsequent authors, notably Bruner et al (1904), was that of Wolcott (1902) in a

bibliography of Nebraska ornithology. In a review of this paper published in The Auk,

James A. Allen (1889) noted that “the author states that the list is based, in addition to

his own "comparatively meagre" observations, upon every source of reliable information,

published or unpublished, open to him, including records published in Baird's 'Birds of

North America,' Dr. Aughey's 'Locust Feeding Birds,' and the records and collections of

the Normal Science Society, and of various personal friends. The list is briefly annotated,

and is apparently very carefully compiled”; it contained “no improbable records”. Allen

also noted that “A number of western forms of eastern species which are unquestionably

common in the western part of the State are omitted”; as stated by Taylor,, at the time

knowledge of these western taxa in Nebraska was limited. Taylor and an associate, A.H.

Van Vleet, in 1888, began a series of three articles in Ornithologist and Oologist entitled

“Notes on Nebraska Birds” (Taylor and Van Vleet 1888, 1888, 1889). The authors stated:

“The only published records made on the birds of Nebraska are found in "Birds of North

America," Vol. I, 1856, by Baird, Cassin and Lawrence; also in Annual Report of United

States Entomological Commission, 1877, is an article by Dr. Samuel Aughey, entitled,

"Aughey on Locust Feeding Birds." These records are very unsatisfactory and incomplete,

as well as somewhat out of date, being classified under the old nomenclature. In the

articles now published, we have endeavored, by freely using information from every

source, to bring up the past records, as well as add additional notes made by ourselves or

reliable parties. When a species is well known and generally distributed, no mention is

made of the various references, but when the species is thought to be rare, or only

mentioned by one or two, the authorities are quoted.”

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Daniel H. Talbot

There is an extensive collection of Nebraska specimens collected by D.H. Talbot in the

University of Iowa Museum of Natural History (www.vertnet.org, accessed November

2017). Prominent among these are grassland birds, including many specimens of Lapland

and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, American Tree, Vesper, Savannah, and Song sparrows,

Bobolink, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, and Dickcissel. Although most of

these 1000+ specimens were collected in 1884, predating the earliest specimens at the

University of Nebraska State Museum, we only cite as voucher specimens those from the

Talbot Collection that add to knowledge of Nebraska birds.

Also, we make the following updates to Sharpe et al (2001) involving “The Swenk years, 1900-

1940”, and “Recent Ornithology”.

The Swenk years, 1900-1940

A. M. Brooking was a very popular museum director and had a strong following in the

Hastings area. One outgrowth of this relationship was the development of the Hastings

(later Brooking) Bird Club, which remained very active many years after Brooking's death.

One of the results of Brooking's influence was the development of an excellent

representative collection of the birds of Nebraska at the Hastings Museum. Several

significant specimens either reside in that collection or were once part of that collection.

Unfortunately, doubts have arisen in recent years about the validity of some of the

significant specimens in the Hastings Museum collection. We have dealt with these cases

in the relevant Species Accounts. These doubts concern a major contributor of

specimens to the Brooking collection, Cyrus A. (Cy) Black of Kearney, a sportsman,

hunter, and professional taxidermist, and his association with Miles Maryott of Oshkosh.

Black and Maryott not only collected several quite rare specimens, but also some which

subsequently have proved unique for Nebraska. Black provided taxidermy services to the

Hastings Museum, and presumably had access to the accession and labelling procedures.

It has been alleged by a long-time member of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, John

Plank of Council Bluffs, IA, now deceased, that Black, or Black and Brooking in collusion,

"created" some Nebraska records by obtaining specimens from elsewhere and claiming

that they were of Nebraska origin. Plank, in personal discussions with Roger Sharpe,

related that he learned of these activities from Black who was his mentor while growing

up in Kearney (see, for example, species account on Lesser Prairie-Chicken).

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Recent Ornithology

The mid-1980s saw some important changes within the Nebraska Ornithologists Union

(NOU), probably a result of the rapidly-increasing popularity of birding as promoted by

the American Birding Association. Until this time, reports of bird sightings were sent

either to the Editor of Nebraska Bird Review or to the national journal North American

Birds. Nebraska Bird Review Editor Rusty Cortelyou, for the years 1959-1993, laboriously

published “Notes” of sightings he received as well as compiling the voluminous

Occurrence Reports for spring and fall, and Christmas Bird Counts. This work was

continued by subsequent Editors Ray Korpi and Rosalind Morris through 1994. Frances

Williams included reports from Nebraska for 1966-1988 in her “Southern Great Plains

Region” section in North America Birds, published by the Audubon Society and then by

the American Birding Association. Williams was succeeded by the current Southern

Great Plains Region compiler, Joseph Grzybowski, in 1988, assisted since 2003 by Ross

Silcock, Seasonal Reports compiler for Nebraska Bird Review, the quarterly journal of

NOU, since 1992. The current editors of Nebraska Bird Review are Janis Paseka and

Joseph Gubanyi (Technical Editor).

At the urging of Wayne Mollhoff, NOU instituted a Records Committee whose charge

was to produce and curate the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska”. In 1986 two

articles related to the operations of a records committee were published, including the

initial set of bylaws (Mollhoff 1986, Wilson 1986). The “First Report of the NOU Records

Committee” was published in 1987 by its Chairman, Wayne Mollhoff (1987), and the first

“Official List”, largely based on "The Birds of Nebraska, A Critically Evaluated List" (Bray et

al 1986) was published in 1988 (Mollhoff 1988) by the NOU Records Committee, chaired

by Wayne Mollhoff and composed of members Tanya Bray, Ruth C. Green, Alice Kenitz,

Thomas E. Labedz, Gary Lingle, and Babs Padelford.

Major advances in knowledge of Nebraska’s avifauna were made with the two

exceptional Breeding Bird Atlas projects coordinated by Wayne Mollhoff, in 1994-1998

and 2006-2011 (Mollhoff 2001, 2016), which were provided financial support by the

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Wildlife Conservation Fund and State Wildlife

Grant Program, Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Michael Forsberg, and University of

Nebraska State Museum. In addition, the oft-neglected ornithology of western Nebraska

was significantly updated with the numerous field trips to the Panhandle and Keith

County in the 1990s by Stephen J. Dinsmore, at the time a graduate student in Colorado.

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Important publications since 2001 include Paul Johnsgard’s (2009) online revision of his

1979 book “Birds of the Great Plains” (Johnsgard 1979) and its supplement (2009).

Johnsgard (2007, 2013) revised his Checklist of Nebraska Birds twice, in online versions.

Brown et al (2012) published an update of their 1996 and 2001 lists of birds occurring at

Lake McConaughy, Keith Co and the surrounding region (Brown et al 1996, Brown and

Brown 2001). In addition, Brown and Johnsgard (2013) published an online eBook “Birds

of the Central Platte River Valley and Adjacent Counties" and Jorgensen (2012) published

“Birds of the Rainwater Basin”.

Perhaps the most important change affecting Nebraska ornithology since 2001 has been

the rapid acceptance and use of eBird (www.eBird.org) as a reporting system for

checklist-based sightings from birders world-wide. eBird now has a large database of

Nebraska bird sightings, continually reviewed for accuracy by eight professional and

amateur Nebraska ornithologists. This database is most useful for its overview of the

occurrence of the more common Nebraska species. The eBird database has become a

major information resource used by birders learning about rare bird reports as well as a

data repository used in compiling the Seasonal Reports for Nebraska Bird Review, along

with reports to the Yahoo groups list “NEBIRDS” by observers who do not use eBird.

Social media are also becoming an important source of data, including posting of

photographs by individuals who do not necessarily know the identity of the birds they

observe. The evolution of birding, and specifically information sharing, in the digital

landscape is likely to continue to influence birding for years to come.

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How to Use the Species Accounts

In the following sections, we use bold to simplify locating defined terms used in species

accounts.

Sources of Data: Since the discussion on this topic in Sharpe et al (2001), sources of data have

changed to a large extent. The Birds of Nebraska — Online is based on Sharpe et al (2001), but

has been updated primarily from Seasonal Reports compiled and published in the Nebraska Bird

Review. The Seasonal Reports are based on information gleaned from two main sources, eBird

and NEbirds. Approximately 90% of cited reports are now from eBird and the remainder are

from reports submitted to NEBIRDS and are mostly of those by observers who do not use eBird.

The few additional reports (at most 1%) come from sightings sent to Nebraska Game and Parks

Commission, posts to Facebook birding pages, and injured raptors handled by Raptor Recovery.

Where appropriate, we routinely incorporate Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Christmas Bird Count

(CBC), and Bird Banding Laboratory data and analysis; the specific published sources are cited in

the species accounts. Data used in the section “Breeding phenology” is derived from Mollhoff

(2016), the Nesting Season Reports in Nebraska Bird Review by Esther Bennett 1966-1990,

Nebraska Nesting Reports by Wayne Mollhoff 2001-2008, Cornell Nest Cards, and information

published in North American Birds 1966-1997 and Nebraska Bird Review seasonal field reports

from 1992 to the present.

Treatment of Data

(a) Seasonal Terms: As part of the “Status” summary in each species account, we use

several terms which are defined here. It is important to note that these terms are not

defined by calendar months, but vary temporally species by species. “Spring” and “Fall”

are the periods in which individuals of a species are moving from winter range to

summer range and the corresponding return movement to winter range; the term

“migrant” applies to species engaged in such movements. “Summer” is the period when

sexually active individuals in a population engage in reproduction; these populations are

defined as “breeders”. Often, birds occurring in summer are not part of a breeding

population but may be stalled migrants (usually immature non-breeders) or dispersers

into the state; these are referred to as “visitors”. “Resident” is the term applied to

species that are sedentary and do not migrate; individuals occupy the same general area

year-round. “Winter” refers to the period between fall and spring migration for migrants,

or when “residents” are not sexually active.

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(b) Arrival and Departure Dates of Migrants: Arrival and departure dates were determined

by examination of all available dates for migration period occurrence obtained from

sources described above (Sources of Data). Reliable arrival and departure dates were

chosen by listing the dates in chronological order and searching for an initial or final

cluster of three dates which preferably did not extend over more than 3-5 days. In some

cases, we present arrival or departure dates for different regions of the state if significant

differences exist. Undocumented dates which fall outside these clusters are generally

discarded, although we list some as earlier or later dates (outside the cluster) if they

appear reasonable to us. All dates that are accompanied by tangible evidence are

included and cited.

(c) Peak Migration Periods: These are noted when there is a cluster of high counts over a

relatively short time period; these high numbers are listed for most seasons in each

species account as “High Counts”. They are derived from a variety of sources, some

anecdotal and may include precise counts and others may be estimates or guesses of

actual numbers present. High counts have limited value and may not be comparable

between or even within species. Nonetheless, high counts capture notable congregations

or numbers and are often representative of peak migration periods when compared to

other sources of information.

(d) Citation of Records: We do not provide citations for records derived from Nebraska Bird

Review spring and fall occurrence reports, the subsequent (since 1992) Seasonal Reports,

or records available in eBird, unless important information is included by the Editor

rather than a simple date. Readers can locate the appropriate issue of the Nebraska Bird

Review by using the year of the sighting or the appropriate species map in eBird

(www.eBird.org, under “explore data”) to obtain an observer’s name. We do, however,

provide a literature citation for all records that are part of a published paper, including,

but not limited to, articles, including NOU Records Committee reports, in the Nebraska

Bird Review and other journals, and regional reports in North American Birds and that

journal’s previous titles, American Birds and Audubon Field Notes. Most of the North

American Birds citations are attributed to Frances Williams or Joseph Grzybowski in the

period 1966-1997 when several observers were not reporting to Nebraska Bird Review.

Since 1997, however, almost all observers reported to Nebraska Bird Review, eBird, or

NEBIRDS, and since 2003 all Nebraska reports have been passed through Seasonal

Reports in Nebraska Bird Review to the Southern Great Plains Region section in North

American Birds.

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(e) Molt: Molt has become much more familiar to birders and ornithologists in the last few

years. Pyle’s (1997, 2008) pioneering references have been followed by Howell’s (2010)

impressive treatise on molt in North American birds. Stage of molt is now recognized as

an important, if not critical, consideration in difficult identification problems. Herein, we

follow the terminology used by Howell (2010), which is largely based on Humphrey and

Parkes (1959, 1963) with modifications. There are useful summaries of the four molt

strategies comprising “Humphrey-Parkes” and which of these strategies are used by the

various families of North American birds in Howell (2010, pp. 26-31). In certain species

accounts, we include a section on molts to clarify plumages reported and/or expected in

Nebraska. Note that, following Howell (2010), we do not use the term “definitive”. We

do use the terms “adult” and “immature”; “immature” refers to any individual in a non-

adult plumage. “Juvenile” is a specific term within “immature” that refers to an individual

in its first post-fledging plumage. We also use the terms “first cycle”, “second cycle”,

etc.; “first cycle” includes all molts prior to achieving second basic, and, depending on the

species, may involve one, two, or three molts. From second basic on, there are one or

two molts per cycle, two if the species has an alternate plumage (Howell 2010).

Figure 8. Geographic regions of Nebraska used in species accounts.

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Style Conventions

(a) Geographic: Throughout, we have used the terms "north", "south", "east", and "west",

which refer to regions of the state (Fig. 8). The term "central" combines "north" and

"south." We have also on occasion used the terms "southwest," "southeast,"

"northwest," and "northeast"; these are self-explanatory and comprise parts of the four

major sections of the state. There are also several landscapes or landforms within the

state that overlap county boundaries and are referred to in individual species accounts

because they influence the occurrence and distribution of birds in the state. Below, we

identify these landscapes or landforms features and provide a brief description of their

physical environment and ecology.

Escarpments

There are a handful of rocky areas with high topographic relief that rise sharply above the

surrounding landscape in the Nebraska Panhandle (Figure 9). The Pine Ridge is the

largest and most prominent. It rises 250 to 300 meters (800-1,000 feet) above the plains

to the north and was formed by erosion by the White River and its tributaries (Condra

1906). The escarpment is dominated by ponderosa pine woodlands (Pinus ponderosa),

although riparian areas along the many streams found at the bottom of canyons and

draws have extensive deciduous shrubs and trees (Schneider et al 2011). The Wildcat

Hills lie between the North Platte River and Pumpkin Creek valleys and rise over 350

meters (1,150 feet) above the former and over 200 meters (656 feet) above the latter

(Condra 1906). Like the Pine Ridge, the Wildcat Hills possess extensive areas of

ponderosa pine, but bottoms of canyons also support stands of deciduous trees and

shrubs. To the south of Pumpkin Creek is a landform we refer to as the Bighorn

Escarpment. This name, or any other, is not widely-accepted and others have used

names such as the southern Wildcat Hills (Schneider et al 2011) or suggested it be

referred to as the Cheyenne Escarpment, the latter is in reference to the Cheyenne Plains

identified in Stout et al (1971) that lies immediately to the south. We chose the Bighorn

Escarpment because the landform “Bighorn Mountain” is part of this escarpment and also

because this feature is distinct and isolated from the Wildcat Hills; there are important

differences in birdlife between the Wildcat Hills and Bighorn Escarpment. The Bighorn

Escarpment has extensive areas of ponderosa pine, but lacks perennial streams and

extensive areas of deciduous trees and shrubs such as those found in the Wildcat Hills

and Pine Ridge. The Pine Bluffs and Sidney Draw Escarpment are two relatively minor

features associated with the Lodgepole Creek drainage. The Sidney Draw Escarpment

includes vertical cliffs which lack extensive areas of ponderosa pine. The Pine Bluffs

barely extends into Nebraska from Wyoming and the minor canyons are the only area in

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the state where limber pine (Pinus flexilis) is found. Other areas of escarpments

associated with and identifiable by major rivers are also found in the state (e.g., along the

North Platte River Valley in Garden and Keith Counties).

Figure 9. The location and extent of major escarpments in Nebraska.

The Sandhills and sandsage prairie

The Nebraska Sandhills covers approximately 30,000 square kilometers (19,300 square

miles) in north-central Nebraska (Schneider et al 2011). The landscape is the largest

stabilized dune system in the Western Hemisphere and one of the largest intact tracts of

grassland remaining in North America (Schneider et al 2011). The dunes, ridges and

valleys of the Sandhills are comprised of fine-grain windblown sand that is generally not

more than 30 meters (100 feet) in depth (Condra 1906). The region sits upon areas of

extensive groundwater from the High Plains Aquifer. Lakes and wetlands are abundant

and are formed where groundwater permeates above the soil profile in depressions

(LaGrange 2005). Notable areas of lakes and wetlands are found in northern and western

areas of the Sandhills. Areas of Sandsage Prairie exist in southwestern Nebraska, which is

similar to the prairie found in the Sandhills, except that the shrubby plant sandsage

(Artemisia filifolia) is common, as the name implies. Other small, isolated areas of

sandhills (note un-capitalized “s”) found in the south and east are notable because they

usually have not been fully converted to row-crop agriculture and thus are now often

isolated patches of grassland in otherwise intensely farmed landscapes.

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Figure 10. Location and extent of the Nebraska Sandhills in north-central Nebraska and other

minor and spatially-isolated dune fields (yellow). Sandsage prairie (orange) occurs in

southwestern Nebraska.

Plains and Playa Landscapes

Several relatively flat landscapes (plains) with embedded playa wetlands encompass

extensive areas of Nebraska. Playas are wetlands located at the lowest portion of a

closed watershed which intermittently hold run-off from precipitation (see Smith 2003).

These landscapes have always been important in influencing bird distribution and

occurrence because they lack well developed drainages and do not possess riparian

corridors. The relatively level land and fertile soils of these plains has resulted in their

conversion to row-crop agriculture since settlement by European Americans. Many of the

small wetlands have been completely eliminated by drainage and/or land levelling,

numerous others have been altered by farming, and large ones are generally degraded

due to culturally-accelerated sedimentation and invasive plant species (LaGrange et al.

2011). Remaining functioning wetlands are often isolated in extensive agricultural

landscapes. The best-known of the landscapes is the Rainwater Basin (RWB) which totals

approximately 10,000 square kilometers (~4,000 square miles) south of the Platte River in

south-central Nebraska. Historically, the RWB landscape was defined by prairie

grasslands interspersed with ephemeral playa wetlands, which numbered in the

thousands (LaGrange 2005). Most of these were small (e.g., < 1 hectare [2.47 acres]), but

others were much larger and totaled more than 100 hectares (247 acres). The primary

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water source for the playa wetlands is run-off. Therefore, water levels of these wetlands

vary annually in depth, expanse, and seasonality due to precipitation regimes in the Great

Plains. The Central Table Playa Region is found north of the Platte River in isolated

tablelands surrounded by areas dissected by drainages (LaGrange 2005). The Southwest

Playa Region is found throughout a large area of the southern Panhandle and

southwestern Nebraska. The Southwest Playas tend to be smaller than playas found in

the Rainwater Basin and since precipitation averages less in western areas compared to

eastern areas, these wetlands tend to hold water less frequently and for shorter periods

(LaGrange 2005). The Todd Valley includes a number of small discreet areas located in

an ancient valley of what is now known as the Platte River (LaGrange 2005). Other minor

playa regions, such as a relatively small area in Boyd County, as well as unmapped areas

in Box Butte and Sheridan Counties are also found in Nebraska.

Figure 11. Location and extent of plains and playa regions in Nebraska. Small isolated playa

areas of these regions occur outside of those areas which are shown on the map.

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(b) Literary: In general, we utilize standard scientific writing style (Hopkins 1999) with a few

noteworthy deviations. We capitalize all proper nouns, such as “Platte River Valley”,

“Calamus Reservoir”, and Bushnell Cemetery”. In all instances, we abbreviate “County

(Counties)” to “Co (Cos)”. In citations within the species account text that involve

multiple authors, we omit the period after “et al”.

Arrangement of Species Accounts

Each account consists of several sections that are described below.

(a) Species Name: We follow the taxonomy of the American Ornithological Society (AOU

1998) for both English and Latin names as revised by its many subsequent supplements (see

http://checklist.aou.org/). On a few occasions, we deviate from this convention; in all such

cases we provide an explanation.

(b) Status: The term “status” describes the numerical, temporal, and spatial characteristics

of the occurrence of a species within a defined area, in this case the state of Nebraska, using

defined sets of descriptors.

With very few exceptions, which we note and for which we provide countering evidence, we

follow the decisions of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee’s (NOURC)

Official List of the Birds of Nebraska. The terms “accepted” and “non-accepted” records

refer to our decisions; many of these records were not submitted or required to be

submitted to the NOURC. Species whose occurrence in Nebraska is not convincingly

documented are characterized as having “No accepted records” and their names are

bracketed in their species accounts.

Numerical descriptors are intended to convey the likelihood that a competent observer will

find the species; these range from “abundant” through “common", "fairly common”,

"uncommon", and "rare". Species that are seen on most field trips are “abundant” when

occurring in flocks, “common” when seen in numbers but usually not in flocks, and “fairly

common” when seen in low, usually single-digit, numbers. Species not seen on most field

trips are “uncommon” when seen several times in a season, and “rare” when only seen once

or twice in a season, and not seen at all in one or two years in a ten-year period.

Occasionally, we add the modifier “local”, which indicates that in specific areas or localities

within the range, a species may be more numerous than it is throughout the rest of its range.

http://checklist.aou.org/

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Species carrying the descriptors “abundant” through “rare” are considered “regular” or

“casual” in Temporal occurrence; “regular” species are those occurring in at least nine years

in the most recent 10, whereas species occurring 2-8 years in the past ten and at least twice

in the state overall are described as “casual”. Those that have occurred only once in

Nebraska are described as “accidental”. Also considered temporal descriptors are

“extirpated”, a species that has occurred but is no longer found in Nebraska although it still

occurs elsewhere, and “extinct”, a species that no longer occurs anywhere.

Additionally considered temporal descriptors are the seasonal terms “spring”, “summer”,

“fall”, and “winter”; these are defined above and are generally combined with a descriptive

noun for the species such as “breeder”, “migrant”, “visitor”, or “resident”, also defined

above (see Seasonal Terms). Thus, a species may possess the status “spring migrant”, or

“winter visitor”. Species defined as “accidental” are accompanied by a seasonal descriptor

referring to the season in which the single occurrence took place, such as “Accidental in

Fall”.

The final set of descriptors used in defining “status” are spatial; these include the geographic

terms discussed above (see Geographic Conventions) along with the term “statewide”, and

indicate where in the state the species occurs in a given season. Thus, a species may be a

“Common spring migrant east”, “Rare winter visitor north”, or “Uncommon resident

statewide”.

(c) Range Maps: For most regular-occurring species we include a map that shows the

spatial distribution of a species occurrence in the state. Sharpe et al. (2001) did not include

range maps in species accounts. Maps provide a generalized illustration of a species’ range

and should be used in conjunction with the text found in species accounts. However, we

purposefully created maps that show a relatively high degree of detail based on the best

available information even though in some instances range limits for some species are not

well defined because of limited data. We believe this approach creates an opportunity to

show where current maps can be improved as observers make additional sightings. For an

example map with a legend showing the style convention used for the range maps see Fig.

12.

23


Figure 12. Example of a range map used in species accounts.

(d) Documentation: This section cites, to the best of our knowledge, the first tangible evidence

for occurrence of each species in the state. In most cases a specimen is available, usually

held in a major museum collection, but for many recent additions to the state list, a

photograph or sound recordings is used. In a few cases, written descriptions remain the best

evidence available.

(e) Taxonomy: This section describes for each species its subspecies, if any, and where they

occur, usually omitting subspecies that are unlikely to reach Nebraska; sources for this

information are cited. Included are comments on documented occurrences for Nebraska of

subspecies, hybrids, and color phases. Extensive citations are provided for these items.

(f) Changes Since 2000: This section describes significant changes in distribution and/or

numbers that have occurred since our preceding publication (Sharpe et al 2001). In

numerous cases, ranges have changed, and certain species have increased in numbers. Less

frequently we highlight cases where a species has declined or a range has been reduced.

24


(g) Resident, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter: Pertinent information is included under the

appropriate seasonal descriptor, including early and late dates for migration periods in

spring and fall, “Breeding phenology” for species that breed in Nebraska, and “High Counts”

for seasons where such data is available. For species of “accidental”, “extirpated”, or

“extinct” occurrence, a single category entitled “Record(s)” is used instead of the seasonal

descriptors following “Documentation” and “Taxonomy”, and for species with “No accepted

records”, “Comments” is the only category used following “Documentation” and

“Taxonomy”. For species whose status in all seasons is other than “regular”, except for “No

accepted records” species, we list all records in columnar form. Otherwise, records are

provided in text form.

(h) Comments: This section is added to some species accounts to provide important information

pertinent to a given species that does not fit well into any of the above categories. It is also

used instead of seasonal descriptors for species of “No accepted records” occurrence.

(i) Abbreviations, Literature Cited, Recommended Citation, Acknowledgements, Appendix:

These self-explanatory sections are included as required. “Abbreviations”, “Literature Cited”

and “Recommended Citation” are included in almost all species accounts,

“Acknowledgements” is included if deemed necessary, and “Appendix” is a repository for

additional information such as graphics or tables that might be deemed necessary to fully

explain certain statements in the species account proper. Throughout “Literature Cited”, we

abbreviate “Nebraska Bird Review” to read “NBR”. When referring to Breeding Bird Survey

trend estimates we parenthetically include “95% C.I.”, which stands for credibility interval.

The 95% credibility interval represents the “2.5% and 97.5% percentiles of the posterior

distribution of trend estimates” (USGS 2017).

25


Literature cited

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Archer, J. C., R. Edwards, L.M. L.M. Howard, D.A. Wilhite, and D.J. Wishart. 2017. Atlas of Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE.

Bray, T.E., B.K. Padelford, and W.R. Silcock. 1986. The birds of Nebraska: a critically evaluated list. Published by the authors, Bellevue, NE.

Brown, C.R., and M.B. Brown. 2001. Birds of the Cedar Point Biological Station. Occasional Papers of the Cedar Point Biological Station, No. 1.

Brown, M.B., S.J. Dinsmore, and C.R. Brown. 2012. Birds of Southwestern Nebraska. University of Nebraska- Lincoln.

Brown, M.B., and P.A. Johnsgard. 2013. Birds of the Central Platte River Valley and Adjacent Counties. Zea E-Books. 15.

Bruner, L., R.H. Wolcott, and M.H. Swenk. 1904. A preliminary review of the birds of Nebraska. Klopp and Bartlett, Omaha, NE.

Condra, G. 1906. Geography of Nebraska. University Publishing Company, Chicago, IL.

Hopkins, W.G. 1999. Guidelines on style for scientific writing. Sportscience 3(1).

Howell, S.N.G. 2010. Molt in North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston and New York.

Humphrey, P.S., and K.C. Parkes. 1959. An approach to the study of molts and plumages. Auk 76: 1-31.

Humphrey, P.S., and K.C. Parkes. 1963. Comments on the study of plumage succession. Auk 80: 496-503.

Johnsgard, P.A. 1979. Birds of the Great Plains: breeding species and their distribution. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE.

Johnsgard, P.A. 2007. The Birds of Nebraska (revised edition). Papers in Ornithology 38.

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LaGrange, T., R. Stutheit, M. Gilbert, D. Shurtliff, and P.M. Whitehead. 2011. Sedimentation of Nebraska’s playa wetlands: a review of current knowledge and issues. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Lincoln, NE.

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Mollhoff, W.J. 1988. The Official List of the Birds of Nebraska. NBR 56: 86-96.

Mollhoff, W.J. 2001. The Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas 1984-1989. Nebraska Ornithologists' Union Occasional Papers No. 7. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Lincoln, NE.

Mollhoff, W.J. 2016. The Second Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas. Bull. Univ. Nebraska State Museum Vol 29. Univ. Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, NE.

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Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part II, Anatidae to Alcidae. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.

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