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1986 (Sixty-First) Spring Occurrence Report

Nebraska Bird Review

Three hundred and four species were recorded in this report, from 22 locations, compared to 296 from 22 in 1985, 293 from 13 in 1984, and 288 from 13 in 1983. The numbered columns are essentially spot checks (a one- or two-day visit to an area, or maybe more than one such visit) or unusual birds reported by visitors to the areas. The symbols used in these columns run from a, for January, through z, for July, and so give some guide to the time, although for the specific time and locality the comments for the particular column should be …

Clark’S Grebe

Nebraska Bird Review

A Clark’s Grebe was taken in Keith County in June 1986, and is now in the State Museum.

The Probe, Issue 66 - September/October 1986

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

THE PROBE
National Animal Damage Control Association
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1986
Harassment of Hunters
How to fight the "antis-" in State legislatures.
Animal rights activitists boycotted the 52 year-old Labor Day pigeon shoot at Hegins (PA)
“Your Right to Fight Right”
Pest Control
Feral Camels
Letters to Ye Ed
EPA
FWS – APHIS
A civil penalty suit has been decided against ELECTRONICS FOR INDUSTRY, INC.
Field Guide: Extreme Care Needed When Controlling Cats

Habitat Selection And Movement Patterns In Sandhills Rodents, Cliff A. Lemen, Patricia W. Freeman

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Using fluorescent pigments, we were able to gather accurate information about the use of habitat and movement patterns of small nocturnal rodents. Use of habitat is strongly affected by the patchiness of vegetation of the sandhills. Microtus ochrogaster occupies the dense grass, Dipodomys ordii occupies the open sandy area, and Perognathus hispidus and P. flavescens occupy a mixed grass-forb zone. Advantages of the fluorescent method over more traditional methods of determining habitat use are presented. There are significant differences in the trails of species at the fine 10-cm scale, but these differences disappear at a larger 3-m scale. The significance …

“Notes” From Nebraska Bird Review (September 1986) 54(3)

Nebraska Bird Review

GREATER SCAUP IN BOONE COUNTY. On 27 and 28 March 1986 I observed a male Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) 2.5 miles west, 1.5 miles south of Petersburg.—Wayne J. Mollhoff, Albion

PRAIRIE-CHICKENS. On 20 April 1986 I saw a couple of Prairie-Chickens 2 miles north of Eppley Airfield, on Abbott Drive and Crown Point Avenue, Omaha.—Douglas Fritz, Omaha

GLAUCOUS GULL. At about 6 PM on 4 April 1986 Tom Headley, Babs Baldinger, Nancy Thoenes, and I were at Lake North, north of Columbus. Tom saw a large white gull. We put the Questar on it and found that it …

Nebraska Bird Review (September 1986) 54(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

1986 (Sixty-first) Spring Occurrence Report … 46

Clark’s Grebe … 64

Book Reviews … 65

Whooping Cranes in Blaine County … 66

Notes … 67

“Book Reviews” From Nebraska Bird Review (September 1986) 54(3)

Nebraska Bird Review

The Birds of Nebraska: A Critically Evaluated List, Tanya Bray, Barbara K. Padelford, and W. Ross Silcock, 112 pp., 5½ x 8½, paper, available from Barbara Padelford, Bellevue, Nebraska. The authors of The Birds of Nebraska have examined the records for the 445 species (including Clark’s Grebe) that have been listed for Nebraska (some in error), and classified them as to the reliability of the record and the frequency of occurrence.

Eskimo Curlew A Vanishing Species? J. B. Gollop, T. W. Barry, and E. H. Iversen, 160 pp., 5½ x 8½, Special Publication No. 17 of The Saskatchewan Natural …

Interference Competition In A Heteromyid Community In The Great Basin Of Nevada, Usa, Cliff A. Lemen, Patricia W. Freeman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Removal experiments with three species of heteromyid rodents were performed during two summers in the Great Basin of Nevada, USA. These experiments were designed to determine the importance of interference competition in these species by quantifying the short-term responses to the removal of one or more of the species. Our results indicate that the removal of a large species (Dipodomys merriami) does have a positive effect on a smaller species with a similar diet (Perognathus longimembris). These results and others presented are consistent with a hypothesis of interference competition. However, while there is short-term increase in …

Factors Influencing Best Annual Racing Time In Finnish Horses, M. Ojala, L. Dale Van Vleck, R. L. Quaas

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The fixed effects of year of race, season of race, sex, method of start, annual number of starts, length of race and racetrack were evaluated on best annual racing time in Finnish Horses. Data included 1,378 records for 554 horses by 206 sires. Five models were assumed within the age groups from 3 to 6 yr. The annual number of starts, method of start and season of race effects were interrelated. An increase in number of starts was associated with considerable improvement in a horse's best annual racing time. Records should not, however, be adjusted for effect of annual number …

The Probe, Issue 65 - August 1986

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

THE PROBE
National Animal Damage Control Association
AUGUST, 1986
New NADCA Officers
African Lions in Idaho
Toxic Collars
2,4 D
ADC
Increased Tiger Population
“The Steel Trap in North America”
Rodent Plague in New Mexico
Letters to Ye Ed
Novel European Rabbit Control
Cleaning up After the Birds
Rabies
Iguana
Treasurer’s Report
Predator Control Program
Coyotes vs. Salmon

Natural And Experimental Infection With An Attaching And Effacing Strain Of Escherichia Coli In Calvest, Rodney A. Moxley, David H. Francis

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Gnotobiotic calves were inoculated with an 05:K4:H^-, urease-positive strain of Escherichia coli isolated from a 2-day-old calf with diarrhea. The calves developed elevated temperatures and passed loose mucoid feces, with or without blood. The E. coli strain was negative for heat-stable and heat-labile enterotoxins but produced high levels of Shiga-like toxin. Bacteria attached diffusely to the epithelium of the large intestine and multifocally to the epithelium of the ileum. The duodenum and jejunum were not affected. At the sites of bacterial attachment, microvilli were effaced, enterocytes were degenerate, and necrosis and exfoliation had occurred. These results confirm a …

Lambing Performance Of Morlam And Dorset Ewes Under Accelerated Lambing Systems, L. C. Iniguez, R. L. Quaas, L. Dale Van Vleck

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Two accelerated lambing systems, Morlam using Morlam sheep (USDA, Beltsville 1966 to 1975) and Carnal using Dorset ewes (Cornell 1978 to 1981), were evaluated for first lambing ages, interlambing intervals and conception probabilities. Morlam ewes were continuously exposed to rams over the year, while Carnal Dorset ewes were exposed every other month. Morlam lambs were mated as early as 367 d of age and Carnal Dorset lambs as early as 340 d. Early lambing was associated with higher rates of perinatal mortality (P>.05) and smaller litter size (P<.O1). Lambing years among Morlam ewes and season of birth of Carnal Dorset ewes influenced (P<.01) their first lambing ages. Lambing intervals averaged 293 and 303 d among Morlam and Carnal Dorset ewes, respectively. Age at first lambing and season in which the previous lambing occurred with influential factors (P<.01) on lambing intervals of Morlam ewes; longer intervals resulted when ewe lambs were mated at early ages (<12 mo), and when the previous lambing occurred in winter. Estimates of conditional probabilities of conception by month given the occurrence of estrus, reflected seasonal changes in both systems. The overall probability of conception for the Morlain system (P=.16) was relatively higher than that for the Carnal Dorset system (P=.14); numbers of lambings per ewe per yr were 1.28 and 1.21, respectively. Estimates of heritability for age at first lambing, lambing interval and conception probability were. 31, .06 and .30, respectively.

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Developments 1985-86, Bruce B. Johnson, Ronald J. Hanson

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Reports

Results of the 1986 Nebraska farm real estate market survey indicate that farmland values continued to fall sharply during the past year as the current farm financial crisis persists. For the state, the average percentage decline from February 1, 1985 to February 1, 1986 was 24.7 percent. This drop in Nebraska land values of nearly 25 percent was even larger than the 23.5 percent decline reported a year ago. These percentage declines of the past two years now represent the largest decreases ever recorded in USDA's statistical series for Nebraska which dates back to 1912.

This downward trend in Nebraska …

Wpa News 13 (1986), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (July 1986), number 13

Published by the World Pheasant Association

The Incidence Of Cryptosporidial Infections In Nebraska Dairy Calves, Douglas Lee Varner

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Within the last decade a new etiologic agent has been identified as a possible cause of diarrhea in humans and domestic animals—that being the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and distribution of Cryptosporidium in the state of Nebraska, to determine if Cryptosporidium occurs more frequently in association with other enteropathogens and to determine about the relation of scouring in the calves to infection with Cryptosporidium. A total of 620 fecal samples from 334 dairy calves from 71 herds in Nebraska were examined for cyptosporidial oocysts using the Sheather’s sugar flotation …

Polymorphism Of Eimerian Oocysts: A Dilemma Posed By Working With Some Naturally Infected Hosts, Brent B. Parker, Donald W. Duszynski

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Morphological variation of sporulated oocysts within individual eimerian species is well documented (Joyner, 1982. In Biology of the Coccidia, P. L. Long (ed.). University Park Press, Baltimore, pp. 35-62). In some cases, oocysts of a single eimerian species are known to vary in size by as much as 40% during patency (Duszynski, 1971, Journal of Parasitology 57: 948-952). During a survey to determine the prevalence of coccidiosis in sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) wintering in New Mexico (Parker and Duszynski, 1986, Journal of Wildlife Diseases 21: 25-35), marked polymorphism was observed among sporulated oocysts of Eimeria reichenowi. …

Relationship Between Snow Depth And Gray Wolf Predation On White-Tailed Deer, Michael E. Nelson, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Abstract: Survival of 203 yearling and adult white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was monitored for 23,441 deer days from January through April 1975-85 in northeastern Minnesota. Gray wolf (Canis lupus)predation was the primary mortality cause, and from year to year during this period, the mean predation rate ranged from 0.00 to 0.29. The sum of weekly snow depths/month explained 51% of the variation in annual wolf predation rate, with the highest predation during the deepest snow.

Agricultural Research Division 100th Annual Report, July 1, 1985, To June 30, 1986

Agricultural Research Division: News and Annual Reports

This 100th Annual Report contains lists of current faculty, active projects, refereed journal publications, brief descriptions of research in selected areas, and the financial report for the period July 1, 1985, through June 30, 1986. Research programs in agriculture, home economics, and natural resources at the University of Nebraska have changed greatly since the U.S. Congress approved the establishment of an Agricultural Experiment Station in each state with the passage of the Hatch Act on March 2, 1887. Although Hatch funds account for a smaller proportion of the total research expenditures in the program today, this legislation continues to be …

Melville’S Economy Of Language, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This essay discusses two works by American writer Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (1851) and Pierre (1852), with emphasis on the uses of economic metaphors and on the issues of labor and alienation in the production of whale oil and of literature. Its argument is that Melville considered the mythology of American capitalism positively in the earlier work, and negatively in the later one. Moby-Dick explores the economic relations of the (capitalist) production of whale oil and converts them to metaphors for metaphysical truths. Pierre explores the economic relations involved in the production of literature and exposes the extent to which a …

Blarina Brevicauda, Sarah B. George, Jerry R. Choate, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Blarina Gray, 1838
Blarina Gray, 1838: 124. Type species Corsira (Blarina) talpoides Gray (=Sorex talpoides Gapper = Sorex brevicaudus Say), by original designation. Elevated to generic rank by Lesson, 1842:89.
Brachysorex Duvernoy, 1842:37-41. Type species Brachysorex brevicaudus Duvernoy (=Sorex brevicaudus Say), by original designation.
Talposorex Pomel, 1848:248. Type species Talposorex platyurus Pomel (=Sorex brevicaudus Say), by original designation. Anotus Wagner, 1855:550-55 1. Type species Sorex carolinensis Bachman, by original designation.

The Probe, Issue 64 - June/July 1986

The Probe: Newsletter of the National Animal Damage Control Association

THE PROBE
National Animal Damage Control Association
JUNE - JULY, 1986
Fund for Animals
Bird Problems
Animal Rightists
Rat Control
Rabies Update
The Eastern Coyote
Letters to Ye Ed
ADC to USDA
Historic Predation
Pittman-Robertson Act
The Fur Market
Grizzly Bear
Fish Skin Fashions
Endangered Species vs. Livestock Industry
Wild Horse & Burrow Advisory Board

1985 Nebraska Nesting Survey, Esther V. Bennett

Nebraska Bird Review

Data on the 1985 nesting season in Nebraska were received from 28 observers and two agencies, reporting on 83 species from 39 counties. Counties in the tabulation are listed in a west to east order, with the northernmost of the approximately equal locations given first. Numbers represent Nest Record Cards, N represents nests for which no Nest Record Card was submitted, E represents eggs, F represents feeding, C represents copulating, CF represents carrying food, FCo represents feeding Cowbird, NM represents carrying nesting material, and Y represents young observed. GPC in the following paragraph represents Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and …

Whooping Crane Roost Site Characteristics On The Platte River, Buffalo County, Nebraska, Gary R. Lingle, Kenneth J. Strom, Jerry W. Ziewitz

Nebraska Bird Review

Whooping Crane (Grus americana) use of the Platte River in Nebraska has been a controversial topic, especially in the last decade. Pressures from water development interests seeking Platte River water conflict with the needs of wildlife and interests from the conservation community. Between spring 1942 and fall 1984 there were 13 confirmed Whooping Crane sightings on or near the Platte River (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1985). Lingle et al. (1984) described physical characteristics of a Platte River roost site used in 1983. This report describes the physical characteristics of the most recent known roost site on the …

“Book Reviews” From Nebraska Bird Review (June 1986) 54(2)

Nebraska Bird Review

Tales of a Low-Rent Birder, Pete Dunne, 175 pp., 5½ x 8¾, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, cloth, $15.95. Pete Dunne is director of the Cape May Bird Observatory. These articles were written between 1977 and 1986 and appeared first in the Peregrine Observer.

Migratory Bird Habitat on the Platte and North Platte Rivers in Nebraska, Paul J. Currier, Gary R. Lingle, John G. VanDerwalker, 184 pp., 6 x 9, The Platte River Whooping Crane Trust, 2550 N. Diers Avenue, Suite H, Grand Island, Nebraska 68801, indexed, paper, $11.00 postpaid from the Trust. This is a …

“Notes” From Nebraska Bird Review (June 1986) 54(2)

Nebraska Bird Review

MORE 1985 CHRISTMAS COUNT DATA. This data for the Lincoln count is now available: 5:10 AM to 5:15 PM. AM and PM clear. Temp. 31° to 45° F. Wind NW 10–30 mph. Snow cover 0 to 18 inches. Fresh water frozen. Wild food crop poor. Thirty-five observers, 19–30 in 11–13 parties, 5–16 at feeders. Total party-hours 73 (48 on foot, 25 by car) plus 18 hours at feeders, 3.5 owling; total party-miles 320 (54 on foot, 266 by car) plus 87 miles owling.

CORRECTION TO 1980 MIGRATION REPORTS. In the reports covering the first half of 1980 (NBR 48:73) …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 18, No. 2. June 1986

The Prairie Naturalist

Paul B. Kannowski, Editor

Nikki R. Seabloom, Assistant Editor

Douglas H. Johnson, Book Review Editor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WINTER ECOLOGY OF BALD EAGLES IN SOUTHCENTRAL NEBRASKA ▪ G. R. Lingle and G. L. Krapu

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PLAINS POCKET MOUSE IN AGRICULTURALLY DISTURBED SANDSAGE PRAIRIE ▪ K. M. Reed and J. R. Choate

COMMERCIAL SUNFLOWERS: FOOD FOR RED FOXES IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ A. B. Sargeant, S. H. Allen, and J. P. Fleskes

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS FOR NORTH DAKOTA - 1985 ▪ R. N. Randall

NEST SITES OF DUCKS IN GRAZED MIXED-GRASS PRAIRIE IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ H. F. …

Nebraska Bird Review (June 1986) 54(2), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

The Eighty-fifth (1986) Annual Meeting … 30

1985 Nebraska Nesting Survey … 31

Book Reviews … 36

Whooping Crane Roost Site Characteristics on the Platte River, Buffalo County, Nebraska … 36

Mottled Duck in Nebraska … 39

Notes … 40

Mottled Duck In Nebraska, W. Ross Silcock, Tanya Bray, Babs Padelford

Nebraska Bird Review

The two major US populations of Mottled Duck occur in Florida and along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Texas, with local breeding inland to “southeast Colorado, western Kansas, Oklahoma (rarely), and northeast Texas” (AOU Checklist of North American Birds, Sixth Edition, 1983). Palmer (Handbook of North American Birds, Vol. 2, 1976) notes that Mottled Duck bred in 1963 at Cheyenne Bottoms, Kansas, and that some individuals occur inland beyond the usual breeding range during the post-breeding period. Presumably these inland. records pertain to birds from the Texas-Louisiana population, as the Florida birds are generally considered nonmigratory. …

The Eighty-Fifth (1986) Annual Meeting

Nebraska Bird Review

The Tout Bird Club was host for the eighty-fifth Annual Meeting 17 and 18 May 1986, which was based at the University of Nebraska Research Center at North Platte. Seventy-six people attended the banquet, and that probably was the maximum attendance. There was a slide show Friday night, Saturday morning was for birding. In the afternoon Tom Hupf, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Island, presented the slide show “Rainwater Basin Wetland Project” and led a discussion afterward. The business meeting followed. It was announced that the Groove-billed Ani (NBR 53:78), reported by Maysel Kiser and others, was the …

Masthead From Nebraska Bird Review (June 1986) 54(2)

Nebraska Bird Review

Published quarterly in March, June, September, and December, by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc., as its official journal and sent to all members who are not in arrears for dues. Subscriptions (on a calendar-year basis only) are $10.00 per year in the United States, $12.00 per year in Canada and Mexico, and $12.50 per year in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $3.00 each, postpaid, in the United States, $3.50 elsewhere.

Memberships (on a calendar-year basis only): Students, $3.00; Active, $7.00; Sustaining, $15.00; Family Active, $10.00; Family Sustaining, $20.00; Life, $100.00.

All dues and subscriptions should be …