Ornithology Commons^™

Louis A. Fuertes And The Zoological Art Of The 1926–1927 Abyssinian Expedition Of The Field Museum Of Natural History, Paul A. Johnsgard

Papers in Ornithology

The year 2009 marked the 110th anniversary of the first colored reproduction of a Fuertes painting; a watercolor of two seaside sparrows published in The Auk, when Fuertes was about 25 years old. Although Fuertes' life spanned little more than a half-century, and most living ornithologists were born after his tragic 1927 death, his influence on natural history art has not lessened. This manuscript is a testimony to his enduring artistic legacy.

I first looked in awe at the original set of Fuertes paintings in the summer of 1995, during a visit to the Field Museum in conjunction with …

Fall Field Report, August-November 2008, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Of interest to many is evidence of northward movement of species which generally summer on the Great Plains. In addition to White-winged Dove and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, both slowly establishing as breeders in Nebraska, significant numbers of Glossy Ibis continue to be found, probably associated with major increases in numbers of White-faced Ibis. Perhaps the biggest surprise this late summer and early fall was the large number of Lesser Goldfinches reported from the southern Panhandle.

Less exciting by far, but worthy of attention were reports of several Mute Swans in the Omaha area, including a duo of juveniles, and a couple …

Remembering Everett Gross And Lee Morris

Nebraska Bird Review

Everett Gross, NOU member since 1966, passed away on March 5, 2008, at the age of 88. Mildred, his wife of 65 years, preceded him in death by only a few months [see June 2007 NBR, p. 62]. Both were regular participants at the NOU spring and fall gatherings.

Lee Morris of Benedict was another loyal, longtime member of the NOU. Lee was 86 when he passed away on July 14, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, sons James, Steve (also an NOU member), and Tom, and daughter, Linda. Lee was an NOU officer in the 1960s, and …

Fall Field Days At Ashland

Nebraska Bird Review

The Fall Field Days were held southeast of Ashland at the Carol Joy Holling Conference Center September 26-28. Field trips to Platte River and Schramm State Parks, Louisville and Memphis SRAs, Jack Sinn WMA, Fontenelle Forest, and Spring Creek Prairie were led by Kevin Poague, Clem Klaphake, Larry Einemann, Rick Schmid, and Don and Janis Paseka.

Hawk migration was in full swing, and we observed 10 species, including a number of Broad-wings and Swainson's. An American Golden-Plover was a standout among the dozen shorebird species, and 10 warbler species were found, including Black-throated Green and Canada. Total species count was …

Index To Volume 76

Nebraska Bird Review

Alberts, Byron 52

Aleman-Zometa, Jason 155

Alexander,

George 20

Irene 20

R. D. 79

Allen, Sue 20

Anderson, S. H. 80

Anhinga 113

Atwood, J. L. 80

Aubushon, Kathy 19

Audubon, John J. 84-85

Avocet, American 58, 87, 101, 142, 159

Subscription And Organization Information [December 2008]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $15 in the United States, $18 in Canada and $30 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4 each, postpaid, in the United States, $5 in Canada, and $8 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary Lou Pritchard, NOU Librarian, c/o University of Nebraska State Museum, W-436 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): …

Nebraska Bird Review (December 2008) 76(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August–November 2008 ... 134

The 2007 Nebraska Nest Report ... 155

Fall Field Days at Ashland ... 165

Remembering Everett Gross and Lee Morris ... 169

Book Review [Birding in the Northern Plains: The Ornithological Writings of Herbert Krause] ... 171

Index to Volume 76 ... 172

Subscription and Organization Information ... 183

The 2007 Nebraska Nest Report, Wayne J. Mollhoff

Nebraska Bird Review

Rains returned to most of the state this breeding season, with the notable exception of almost the entire Panhandle and the western Sandhills, where the 8-year drought continues. In the western Sandhills some early rains began to restore water levels in the potholes and lakes, but levels fell again as the summer wore on. While recovering water levels in much of the Rainwater Basin brought renewed breeding activity by at least some of the marsh and water birds, continued dry conditions in the western Sandhills curtailed breeding by many water bird species there, with reduced or no breeding by grebes …

Book Review [Birding In The Northern Plains: The Ornithological Writings Of Herbert Krause], Paul A. Johnsgard

Nebraska Bird Review

Birding in the Northern Plains: The Ornithological Writings of Herbert Krause. Ronald R. Nelson, editor. 2008. The Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD. 252 pp. ISBN 978-0-9312170-87-4. Price: $27.50.

Herbert Krause was a native of Minnesota who spent most of his life in South Dakota, teaching at Augustana College from 1938 until his death in 1976. During that time he wrote extensively on South Dakota birds, much of which appeared in South Dakota Bird Notes, the journal of the South Dakota Ornithologists' Union. This book, assembled and edited by his long-time friend Ronald Nelson, brings …

Observation Of Hailstorm-Caused Mortality Of Least Terns And Piping Plovers On The Niobrara River, Nebraska, Mark M. Czaplewski, Mark Peyton, Jim Jenniges

Nebraska Bird Review

Hail has been documented to be a cause of mortality to adult Least Terns and Piping Plovers as well as to eggs and young (Boyd 1992, Lingle 1993, Schweitzer and Davis 2000, SD Dept. of Game, Fish and Parks 2005). While on an airboat survey to document Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) and Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) use of a portion of the Niobrara River (from Highway 137 to the Spencer Dam, approximately 40 river miles), the authors observed the remnants of a Least Tern and Piping Plover colony that had been hit by an overnight rainstorm …

Migration Chronology, Nesting Ecology, And Breeding Distribution Of Mountain Plover (Charadrius Montanus) In Nebraska, Bartholomew L. Bly, Larry Snyder, Tammy Vercauteren

Nebraska Bird Review

The Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) is a loosely colonial (Graul 1975) upland shorebird that breeds across the xeric tablelands of the western Great Plains and shortgrass prairie ecoregion of North America (Knopf and Wunder 2006). This is a species of conservation concern throughout its range because of apparent range-wide population declines (Knopf and Wunder 2006). The U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan (USSCP) recently classified the species as globally highly imperiled (Brown et al. 2001; USSCP 2004). Reasons for the decline of Mountain Plovers are not fully understood. Habitat destruction and the tendency of the species to nest in agricultural …

2007 (19th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union (NOU) Records Committee are described in its bylaws (NOU Records Committee 1986). The committee's purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. The "Official List of the Birds of Nebraska" was first published in 1988 (NOU Records Committee 1988) and has been updated two times (NOU Records Committee 1997, 2004).

The "Official List" has been appended seventeen times: (Mollhoff 1989; Grenon 1990, 1991; Gubanyi 1996a, 1996b, 1996c; Brogie 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; Jorgensen …

Summer Field Report, June-July 2008, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Generally excellent water conditions in the southeast, including the Rainwater Basin, and in the Sandhills resulted in some notable breeding records, such as Eared Grebes in York County. Ducks were numerous in the Sandhills, especially Redhead. These conditions may have encouraged shorebirds to linger; several late spring records were noted.

Three western species were found eastward; Western Wood-Pewee and Cordilleran Flycatcher were not unexpected based on recent records, but a major surprise was a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches in Cherry County.

Nebraska Bird Review (September 2008) 76(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2008 ... 94

2007 (19th) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 111

Migration Chronology, Nesting Ecology, and Breeding Distribution of Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) in Nebraska ... 120

Observation of Hailstorm-Caused Mortality of Least Terns and Piping Plovers on the Niobrara River, Nebraska ... 129

Subscription and Organization Information ... 131

Subscription And Organization Information [September 2008]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $15 in the United States, $18 in Canada, and $30 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4 each, postpaid, in the United States, $5 in Canada, and $8 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary Lou Pritchard, NOU Librarian, c/o University of Nebraska State Museum, W-436 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): …

Subscription And Organization Information [June 2008]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $15 in the United States, $18 in Canada, and $30 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4 each, postpaid, in the United States, $5 in Canada, and $8 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary Lou Pritchard, NOU Librarian, c/o University of Nebraska State Museum, W-436 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): …

Nebraska Bird Review (June 2008) 76(2), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, Mar.–May 2008 ... 50

Endangered Species Responses to Natural Habitat Declines: Nebraska's Interior Least Terns and Piping Plovers Nesting in a Human-created Habitat ... 72

2007 Nebraska Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey ... 81

Book Review [of John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon's Western Birds and Mammals] ... 84

Annual Meeting at Scottsbluff ... 85

Subscription and Organization lnformation ... 91

Annual Meeting At Scottsbluff

Nebraska Bird Review

The 109th Annual Meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union was held in Scottsbluff on May 16-18, 2008. Gatherings and meals took place at the Jane Fliesbach Retreat Center at the Trails West YMCA Camp on the North Platte River at the base of Scotts Bluff National Monument. The meeting was hosted by members of Wildcat Audubon, who arranged the speakers, field trips, lodging, meeting facility, and meals.

Field trips were led by Alice Kenitz, Helen Hughson, Kathy DeLara, and Wayne Mollhoff to Wildcat Hills SRA, Kiowa WMA, Winters Creek Lake, Lake Minatare, Chilibaba Pond in Scotts Bluff Co., and various …

Book Review [Of John Kirk Townsend: Collector Of Audubon’S Western Birds And Mammals], Paul A. Johnsgard

Nebraska Bird Review

A review of John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon's Western Birds and Mammals. Barbara and Richard Mearns. 2007. Published by the authors, Dumfries, UK. 389 pp., with 18 appendices, and a bibliography of nearly 150 entries. No price given. ISBN 978-0-9556739-0-0

This large (9 x 12 inches) and sumptuously illustrated book details the life and biological contributions of John Townsend, one of the earliest biologists after Lewis and Clark (1804) and Prince Maximilian (1832) to visit what is now Nebraska, preceding John J. Audubon's visit (1843) by nearly a decade. Townsend ascended the upper Platte Valley during an 1834 …

Endangered Species Responses To Natural Habitat Declines: Nebraska’S Interior Least Terns (Sternula Antillarum Athalassos) And Piping Plovers (Charadrius Melodus) Nesting In A Human-Created Habitat, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen, Sarah E. Rehme

Nebraska Bird Review

Formerly, state and federally endangered Interior Least Terns (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and state and federally threatened Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) nested on sandbars in rivers as well as on other sandy beach habitat (Hardy 1957; Haig 1992; Kirsch 1992; Ziewitz et al. 1992; Thompson et al. 1997). In Nebraska, the birds primarily used sandbars in the Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, Niobrara, and Missouri rivers (Sharpe et al. 2001). These sandbars were created and maintained by river flow and regular flooding events. Despite the frequent scouring, reshaping, and relocation of the sandbars, nesting habitat was consistently available to …

Spring Field Report, March–May 2008, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Despite this cool, wet spring, warbler enthusiasts were thrilled by one of the best showings in years, with Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, and Mourning Warblers leading the charge. Swallows also as a group arrived early, including a record early Barn Swallow, and record early Western Tanagers (yes, more than one) appeared, surprisingly, in the east. There were no reports of mortality due to cold or excessive moisture; apparently food sources were unaffected. The large incursion of Purple Finches and the smaller one of Mountain Chickadees continued into the spring period, with impressive totals.

Identification of Catharus thrushes is more …

2007 Nebraska Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey, Joel E. Jorgensen, Sarah E. Rehme

Nebraska Bird Review

Bald and Golden Eagles are species of conservation concern that regularly winter in Nebraska (Sharpe et al. 2001). The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NCJPC) has conducted an annual statewide Midwinter Eagle Survey (MWS) since 1980. The Nebraska MWS is done in conjunction with a national survey coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey. The purpose of the MWS is to determine the number and distribution of eagles wintering in Nebraska. Here we present results from the 2007 Nebraska MWS.

Law, Biology Professor Val Nolan Dies

Val Nolan Jr. (1976 Acting; 1980 Acting)

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note

Nebraska Bird Review

With this issue we step into a new era: this is the first issue in the history of The Nebraska Bird Review to feature full color pages. Thanks are due to Wayne Mollhoff, who instigated this change and underwrote the bulk of the cost for the color printing, and to others who contributed financially, photographically, and with much-appreciated advice and encouragement.

Winter Field Report, December 2007 To February 2008, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This winter in Nebraska was much colder on average than the few previous winters, not so much because of low temperatures, but a lack of warmer days. This kept water bodies frozen most of the winter, with far fewer than usual midwinter water-bird records. Surprisingly, though, passerines, including some surprises, were able to brave the coolness. Notable were three species of wood-warblers; although Yellow-rumped Warblers winter to some extent in the southeast, 9 of the 21 total February records for the species have come in the last two winters. The others were not unprecedented for Nebraska, and are known to …

Subscription And Organization Information [March 2008]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $15 in the United States, $18 in Canada, and $30 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4 each, postpaid, in the United States, $5 in Canada, and $8 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary Lou Pritchard, NOU Librarian, c/o University of Nebraska State Museum, W-436 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): …

Nebraska Bird Review (March 2008) 76(1), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Editor's Note ... 2

Winter Field Report, Dec. 2007-Feb. 2008 by W. Ross Silcock ... 2

2007-2008 Christmas Bird Counts in Nebraska ... 16

First Report of Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) Breeding in the Nebraska Panhandle Region by Wayne J. Mollhoff, Joseph Gubanyi, and Mark A. Brogie ... 32

[Photographs page: Least Bittern, Pomarine Jaeger, Wood Stork, and White-winged Dove] ... 38

First Nebraska Record for the Royal Tern (Sterna maxima) and a Review of Regional Records by Sarah E. Rehme, Thomas E. Labedz, Don and Janis Paseka ... 39

NOU Annual Treasurer's Report for 2007 …

Nebraska Ornithologists' Union Treasurer's Report, December 31, 2007

Nebraska Bird Review

One-page spreadsheet constituting the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union treasurer's report at year end (December 31) of 2007. The grand total is $56,601.74.

First Nebraska Record For The Royal Tern (Sterna Maxima) And A Review Of Regional Records, Sarah E. Rehme, Thomas E. Labedz, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

On the afternoon of 8 Sept 2007, Don and Janis Paseka discovered a large tern on the causeway that separates Lake North from Lake Babcock, north of Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska. The causeway consists of a road next to Lake North and a low cement wall next to Lake Babcock. They observed the tern at approximately 1630 CDT standing on the low wall, on the west side of the causeway. The tern remained standing on the wall as they drove to within 15 feet and photographed it. The tern was standing with its wings drooping (Photo 1), and the fact …

First Report Of Ash-Throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus Cinerascens) Breeding In The Nebraska Panhandle Region, Wayne J. Mollhoff, Joseph Gubanyi, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

This report presents evidence of the breeding of Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) in mixed conifer woodland in the Nebraska Panhandle Region, 160 miles north of its nearest known breeding area. In addition, it presents the first photographic evidence and the second accepted record by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (NOURC) of the presence of Ash-throated Flycatcher in Nebraska.

On 28 June 2007 Wayne Mollhoff observed an adult Ash-throated Flycatcher while conducting a survey in Priority Block K409 in Kimball County, Nebraska, for the Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas Project II. The bird was observed on private property in …