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The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 86 March 2018 Number 1

Nebraska Bird Review

NOU Annual Treasurer's Report for 2017, by Jan Johnson … 2

Winter Field Report, Dec. 2017 - Feb. 2018, by W. Ross Silcock …3-20 & 29-30

Annual Color Photo Section …21-28

2017 - 2018 Christmas Bird Counts, by Don Paseka …31-46

Revision of Johnsgard’s Birds of Nebraska Published ........ 33

Subscription and Organization Information … 47

Winter Field Report, December 2017 To February 2018, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This was not a spectacular fall by most measures, but, as usual, there was much to chew on. Continuing the trend seen in recent falls, lingering has become the norm; this phenomenon is across the board, involving, for example, Baird’s Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Mourning Dove, American White Pelican, Barn Owl, Lesser Goldfinch, several native sparrow species, Palm and Orange-crowned Warblers, and even rearof- the-order Dickcissel. Apparent range expansion is occurring with Red-shouldered Hawk and Barred Owl, the former northward and the latter westward. A couple of taxonomic notes relate to the subspecies Buteo jamaicensis abieticola of Red-tailed Hawk and subspecies …

2017-2018 Christmas Bird Counts, Don Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

Sixteen counts were held during the 2017-18 Christmas Bird Count season, which is one more than has ever been done in the past. Although the Crawford count was not done this season, the new Lower Platte River count, centered at the junction of Platteview Road and 204th St. south of Gretna, was added. A total 236 observers took part in at least one count, 26 did two counts, four did three counts, five did four counts and four persons did six counts. However, special recognition goes to Gary Roberts, who did eight counts this season. I am not aware of …

Winter Site Fidelity Of Orange-Crowned Warblers (Oreothlypis Celata) In The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, Mark H. Conway, Timothy Brush

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Abstract—We documented between-winter site fidelity of orange-crowned warblers (Oreothlypis celata) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, between 2004 and 2017. Overall, we recaptured 13.9% of the 201 banded birds in ‡1 subsequent winter season: 20.8% of the 101 birds banded in urban natural areas, and 7.0% of the 100 banded in rural areas. We recaptured 8 birds ‡3 winters after their initial capture, indicating extended winter site fidelity.

Resumen—Documentamos la fidelidad al sitio invernal de los chipes olivaceos (Oreothlypis celata) en el Valle del R´ıo Grande Baja de Texas entre 2004 y 2017. En general, se …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 94, No. 1), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Social Influences On Songbird Behavior: From Song Learning To Motion Coordination, Iva Ljubičić

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social animals learn during development how to integrate successfully into their group. How do social interactions combine to maintain group cohesion? We first review how social environments can influence the development of vocal learners, such as songbirds and humans (Chapter 1). To bypass the complexity of natural social interactions and gain experimental control, we developed Virtual Social Environments, surrounding the bird with videos of manipulated playbacks. This way we were able to design sensory and social scenarios and test how social zebra finches adjust their behavior (Chapters 2 & 3). A serious challenge is that the color output of a …

Examination Of Clock And Adcyap1 Gene Variation In A Neotropical Migratory Passerine, Andrea Contina, Eli S. Bridge, Jeremy D. Ross, J. Ryan Shipley, Jeffrey F. Kelly

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Complex behavioral traits, such as those making up a migratory phenotype, are regulated by multiple environmental factors and multiple genes. We investigated possible relationships between microsatellite variation at two candidate genes implicated in the control of migratory behavior, Clock and Adcyap1, and several aspects of migratory life-history and evolutionary divergence in the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris), a species that shows wide variation in migratory and molting strategies across a disjunct distribution. We focused on Clock and Adcyap1 microsatellite variation across three Painted Bunting populations in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and North Carolina, and for the Oklahoma breeding population we …

Temporal Migration Patterns Between Natal Locations Of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus Colubris) And Their Gulf Coast Stopover Site, Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Andrea Contina, Jeffrey F. Kelly, Frank R. Moore

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Autumn latitudinal migrations generally exhibit one of two different temporal migration patterns: type 1 where southern populations migrate south before northern populations, or type 2 where northern populations overtake southern populations en route. The ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is a species with an expansive breeding range, which allows opportunities to examine variation in the timing of migration. Our objective was to determine a relationship between natal origin of ruby-throated hummingbirds and arrival at a Gulf coast stopover site; and if so, what factors, such as differences in body size across the range as well as the …

Slave To The Rhythm: Variation In The Acoustic Signaling Of Picoides Woodpeckers, Alex Baer

Theses and Dissertations

We explored rhythmic variation in acoustic signals by geography across four species of Picoides woodpeckers. We hypothesized that there would be an effect of geographic location on the cadence of drums and rattle-type calls. No significant effect was observed. However, drum cadence was observed to significantly impact conspecific recognition in playbacks.

Factors Of Annual Reproductive Success In North American Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica Erythrogaster) In Shared Greenspace, Joseph Czeisel

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined three metrics related to barn swallow reproductive success in shared greenspace. Earlier nesting dates were positively related to reproductive output and survival rate. Anthropogenic disturbance was not found to influence productivity. The distance of nests inside structures predicted survival rate. The monitoring of additional seasons is recommended.

Ms Environmental Biology Capstone Project, Taylor Readyhough

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Life in a zoo brings a score of stressors into the lives of captive animals, including artificial light, crowds of visitors, and increased noise levels. Stress especially impacts captive birds, and continued exposure to these stressors can negatively affect birds’ reproductive success and overall well-being. Staff at the Denver Zoo noticed increased aggression between a male and female pair of great Indian hornbills during the winter of 2016. This behavioral shift coincided with Zoo Lights, a holiday event that results in the hornbills’ exhibit remaining open to the public for approximately four extra hours through the entire month of December. …

Mixing Of Two Greater Sandhill Crane Populations In Northeast Oregon, M. Cathy Nowak, Krista J. Mougey, Daniel P. Collins, Blake A. Grisham

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area in northeast Oregon hosts a small group of nesting greater sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis tabida). There were no data on where these birds wintered, and we had no understanding of how these birds fit into the larger picture of western sandhill crane population delineation. ODFW began color-banding pre-fledging colts in 2007 and added satellite tracking with platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) in 2015. To date, we have captured 15 colts and 13 adults and marked them with color bands. We also fitted 1 colt and 8 adult …

An Updated Distribution Map For The Lower Colorado River Valley Population Of Greater Sandhill Cranes, Blake A. Grisham, Daniel P. Collins, Kammie L. Kruse, Courtenay M. Conring, Jeffrey M. Knetter, Warren C. Conway

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recognizes 6 migratory populations of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) in the United States, 4 of which occur in or west of the Rocky Mountains. Traditionally the Lower Colorado River Valley Population (LCRVP; greater sandhill crane [G. c. tabida]) was thought to be distributed across the Imperial (California) and Lower Colorado River (Arizona) Valleys, southward into Mexico via the Colorado River delta in winter and northeastern Nevada (Elko and White Pine Counties) during summer. Conservation and management concern exists over known distribution based on winter and summer surveys because discrepancies …

Freshwater Pond Use By Whooping Cranes During A Wet Winter In Coastal Texas, Raymond D. Kirkwood, Elizabeth H. Smith

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Wintering whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population have a restricted range along coastal Texas, and they rely on coastal salt marshes and tidal ponds for feeding and roosting habitat as well as upland freshwater ponds for dietary drinking water during drought periods. These upland ponds were used extensively by wintering whooping cranes during a multi-year drought (2011-2014), and use terminated when frequent localized rainfall events occurred across the wintering range. Despite optimum bay salinities that occurred during this study (February-March 2016) in a 6-week winter period, whooping cranes continued to use at least 1 of …

Sandhill Crane Foraging Behavior And Damage Estimates In Cornfields During Spring, Jeb A. Barzen, Andrew P. Gossens, Anne E. Lacy

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Damage to corn in the spring caused by greater sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis tabida) has increased concurrent with growth of the Eastern Population of cranes. Our study was designed to: 1) describe foraging rates and food acquisition behavior where damage was likely and 2) estimate damage in cornfields treated and untreated with a taste deterrent: 9,10-anthraquinone (AQ; Avipel®). Our 6,251.6-ha study area was located near Briggsville, Wisconsin, and we sampled 415 ± 13.2 individuals/ survey (x ± SE), of which 36 ± 1.7% used cornfields. During 10-30 May 2009, 121 observation bouts of 33 marked cranes that foraged …

Effective And Sustainable Prevention Of Avian Damage To Planted Seeds Through Seed Treatment, Jeb A. Barzen, Kenneth E. Ballinger Jr.

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Several species of cranes and other wildlife have recovered from low populations because, in part, they have adapted to resources found in agricultural environments. If future conservation strategies are to succeed in areas dominated by agricultural use, we must develop sustainable models that solve crop damage problems that are caused by expanding wildlife populations. Using crane damage to planted seed as an example, we propose 1 such model of sustainable crop damage prevention. The deterrent, 9,10-anthraquinone (AQ), is a natural product produced by plants, in part to control bird frugivory, and induces gastro-intestinal distress (temporarily sickens an individual) in sandhill …

Whooping Crane And Sandhill Crane Monitoring At Five Wind Energy Facilities, Clayton E. Derby, Melissa M. Welsch, Terri D. Thorn

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Biologists have expressed concern that individuals of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population of the federally endangered whooping crane (Grus americana), numbering about 300, may be injured or killed by wind turbines during migration. To help address this concern and curtail (stop) turbine operations when whooping cranes approached turbines, we monitored the area around 5 wind energy facilities in North and South Dakota during spring and fall migration for whooping cranes and sandhill cranes (G. canadensis). Observers monitored cranes for 3 years at each facility from 2009 to 2013 (1,305 total days of monitoring), recording 14 unique observations …

Abstracts From Proceedings Of The 14th North American Crane Workshop

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

CRANES AND AGRICULTURE: A DELICATE BALANCE. Jane E. Austin and Kerryn M. Morrison 149

NOCTURNAL ROOSTING BEHAVIOR OF SANDHILL CRANES ON THE PLATTE RIVER, NEBRASKA. David A.Brandt, Pamela J. Pietz, Deborah A. Buhl, Wesley E. Newton, Gary L. Krapu, and Aaron T. Pearse 149

USING HOME RANGES AND SITE FIDELITY TO IDENTIFY AREAS OF IMPORTANCE FOR OVERWINTERING SANDHILL CRANES ON THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS Kathryn Brautigam, Blake A. Grisham, William Johnson, Nicole Athearn, David L. Boren, Dan P. Collins, Shaun Oldenburger, Jude Smith, and Warren Conway 150

IN VITRO METHODS FOR EXAMINING MALE FERTILITY IN CRANE SPECIES Megan E. Brown, …

Effects Of Rearing Environment On Behavior Of Captive-Reared Whooping Cranes, Christy L. Sadowski, Glenn H. Olsen, M. Elsbeth Mcphee

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Whooping cranes (Grus americana) are 1 of the most endangered bird species in North America. In 1999 the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership was formed to establish a migratory population of whooping cranes in eastern North America. These efforts have been extremely successful in terms of adult survival but reproductive success post-release has been low. One hypothesis developed to explain such low reproductive success is that captive-rearing techniques fail to prepare the birds to be effective parents. Captive-reared whooping cranes at the U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, are either reared by humans in crane costumes …

Winter Distribution Of Sandhill Cranes From Upper Michigan And Adjacent Ontario: A Thirty-Year Perspective, Richard P. Urbanek

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The relationship between areas used for breeding and wintering by the expanding Eastern Population of greater sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis tabida) has been little studied. During 1985-1988, 32/33 (97%) of sandhill cranes VHFradiotagged on Seney National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were subsequently located on wintering areas in wet prairies, muck farms, and improved pastures in Florida and southern Georgia. Four additional radiotagged cranes from other areas of Upper Michigan and 7 from the North Channel of Lake Huron, Ontario, were also located in similar areas and habitats. Winter area was not dependent on …

Mississippi Sandhill Crane Conservation Update 2014–2016, Scott G. Hereford, Angela J. Dedrickson

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

To manage crane habitat during 2014-2016, 5,826 ha were treated with prescribed burns, 298 ha of woody vegetation were removed, 94 ha of invasive plants were chemically treated, and 8 ha of crops were planted. There were 247 predators removed. We acclimated and released 29 captive-reared juveniles. We began testing drones (unmanned aerial systems [UAS]), to locate nests. We detected an average of 34 nests per year with 6 fledglings each year. The December 2016 population was 129 cranes, up 9% from the previous 3 years.

A Preliminary Study Of The Influence Of Breeding Area Density On Sandhill Crane Habitat Selection In South-Central Wisconsin, Sara A. Prussing, Hillary L. Thompson

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

We hypothesized that territorial sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) in densely populated breeding areas occupy smaller home ranges that are richer in optimal habitat than those in less densely populated breeding areas. We analyzed satellite telemetry data collected from 2012 to 2016 for 3 and 2 sandhill cranes from dense and less dense breeding areas, respectively. Tracked sandhill cranes in a dense breeding area tended to have smaller home ranges (0.37-14.25 km²) with higher concentrations of wetlands (27%) and row crops (40%) than tracked sandhill cranes in the less dense breeding area (8.80-48.81 km², 14% …

Ainsworth Fall Field Days, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2018 NOU Fall Field Days took place in and around Ainsworth on Sep. 14 – 16, with 48 in attendance. It was a hot and windy weekend, but 137 species were located. Two Sandhill Cranes in the Niobrara River at the Carns Bridge attracted birders, especially since the two cooperatively moved from one side of the river to the other, allowing county listers to count them in both. The bird of the weekend, however, was the Red-naped Sapsucker at Plum Creek Valley WMA. It was a county bird for everyone, a state bird for many and a life bird …

Wpa News 107 (2018), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Winter 2018), number 107

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Apparent Survival Of Snowy Plovers Varies Seasonally, Nora C. Papian

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Survival is an important vital rate that contributes to population viability, but is infrequently monitored and studied, especially compared to productivity. Furthermore, factors that limit survival and the relative effect on survival are often unknown. I used mark-resight observations of a small (~350) population of threatened Snowy Plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) to quantify seasonal and annual variation in survival and movement between three coastal locations across ~70 km in Humboldt County, California. The return of individuals to non-breeding flocks at three locations was high between years (75-81%). Movement between three locations varied greatly, although most (n = 137) …

Sex-Specific Habitat Selection Of Rough-Legged Hawks (Buteo Lagopus) Wintering In Western North America, Genevieve Christa Rozhon

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus sanctijohannis) is one of the most under-studied raptor species in North America. As a species that exhibits reversed sexual dimorphism, sex-specific habitat preferences may exist. To investigate rough-legged hawk sex-specific habitat selection preferences, we equipped 17 rough-legged hawks (n = eight females, nine males) with GPS backpacks on their wintering grounds (n = six study areas) during the winter months of 2014 and 2015 in five states in western North America. I analyzed rough-legged hawk habitat selection in relation to sex at four spatial scales: nocturnal roosting site, 50% core range, 95% winter …

Using A Custom Landscape Classification To Understand The Factors Driving Site Occupancy By A Rapidly Declining Migratory Songbird, Elizabeth K. Schold

Theses and Dissertations

Land cover classifications are useful in a broad range of ecological applications, yet publicly available classifications are not always useful for the needs of specific projects. Custom classifications are always a possibility, however, they can be financially or computationally out of reach for many researchers. Here we present a custom 1m resolution land cover classification created using freely available imagery and a random forest classification approach. This classification detected shrub cover more accurately and at a finer resolution than previous classifications. With the creation of this map, we were then able to examine landscape factors influencing occupancy dynamics of the …

The Molecular Analysis Of Hawaiian Bird Diets, Alissa C. Scinto

Honors Theses and Capstones

The aim of this project is to utilize high-throughput molecular methods to investigate the diets of three non-native and one native Hawaiian bird species. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has made it possible to produce thousands of sequencing reads of DNA in a relatively short amount of time. This metabarcoding technology has been used to identify a range of different taxa, from bacteria in the human gut to fungi in the soil. More recently, this approach has been used to identify insects in the diets of birds and other species, including bees and bats. Samples underwent genomic sequencing using a targeted approach …

Analysing Intonation Of The Pied Butcherbird, Jean-Michel Maujean

Theses : Honours

Native to Australia, the Pied Butcherbird has been extensively studied and transcribed by previous composers, notably including Olivier Messiaen. This may be due to richness and diversity in each bird’s repertoire, along with parallels drawn from Western Tonality. Hollis Taylor has conducted extensive study in this field, notably with an analysis of a transcription made by Messiaen, that was incorporated in his piece Éclairs sur l'au- delà (1988-91). Coupled with the original field recording, Taylor’s analysis and Messiaen’s score, this study will reanalyse the original recording from which Messiaen made his transcription.

Zoomusicology is a practice that represents the …

Endoparasitism Of Rehabilitating Grey Crowned Cranes In Rwanda, Barry K. Hartup, Deo Ruhgazi, Haynes Werner, Oliver Nsengimana

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Diseases such as parasitism can limit the effectiveness of conservation translocations depending on host-parasite dynamics at the site of release. The Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association and the Rwandan government are rehabilitating and repatriating grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) from illegal captivity to the wild at Akagera National Park in large numbers. Monitoring of cranes at the fenced soft-release site during 4 time points in 2017 showed 50-67% of fecal samples tested were positive for 1 or more parasites, most commonly nematodes (roundworms) of the Order Ascaridida. The prevalences and species diversity observed in the fecal samples were not …