Ornithology Commons^™

Spring Field Report, March-May 1996, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This was an interesting spring season, with something for everyone. Interesting data in terms of numbers are being produced by the North American Migration Count (NAMC), especially this spring in Sarpy County; examples are 499 Swainson's Thrushes, 76 Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and 118 Black-and-white Warblers, and others. Some species appeared in large numbers such as 5,000 Western Grebes, 16 Clark's Grebes, 10,000 Wilson's Phalaropes, 300 each of Black-bellied Plover and Sanderling, 54 Whimbrels, and two flocks of over 100 Great-tailed Grackles.

Some interesting early and late dates are included in the species accounts, but several observers noted unexpected species such as …

Masthead From Nebraska Bird Review (June 1996) 64(2)

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears for dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $12.50 in the United States, $15.00 in Canada and Mexico, and $17.50 for all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4.00 each, postpaid, in the United states, and $5.00 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary H. Pritchard, NOU Librarian, University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Nebraska Bird Review (June 1996) 64(2), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Table of Contents

1994 (Sixth) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 38

Spring Field Report, March-May 1996 ... 42

Whooping Crane Sightings during March-May 1996 Migration ... 68

Snowy Plovers in the Rainwater Basin ... 71

Wanted: Information on Cliff Swallow Mortality ... 71

An Avian Botulism Epizootic Affecting A Nesting Site Population Of Presbyornis : On A Carbonate Mudflat Shoreline Of Eocene Fossil Lake, V. Leroy Leggitt

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The shorebird-duck mosaic bird, Presbyornis, is best known from the Eocene Green River Formation where it often occurs in local monospecific bonebeds, suggestive of mass mortality events. The sedimentology, paleontology, taphonomy, XRD mineralogy, and the carbonate stable isotope signature (δ¹⁸O) of one of these bonebeds was studied on the southern margin of Eocene Fossil Lake.

A series of 408 standardized radiographs were used to construct the first large scale radiograph aided taphonomic map of a vertebrate fossil quarry (3,874 bones were recorded in 11.5 m²). A small group of 100 bones (including a complete skull …

Red-Breasted Mergansers, Mergus Serrator, Nesting In Southern Texas, Jeffery R. Rupert, Timothy Brush

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

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 72, No. 2), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Wpa News 50 (1996), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (May 1996), number 50

Published by the World Pheasant Association

The Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., Treasurer’S Annual Report, 12/31/95, Elizabeth Grenon

Nebraska Bird Review

Balance 1/1/95 on cash basis per bank account: Cash $1,593.16 Investments $13,500.00 Total $15,093.16

Total Receipts: Cash $9,466.13 Investments $11,354.40 Total $20,820.53

Total Disbursements: Cash $8,777.48 Investments $10,551.66 Total $19,329.14

Balance 12/31/95: Cash $2,281.81 Investments $14,302.74 Total $16,584.55

Nebraska Bird Review (March 1996) 64(1), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Table of Contents

NOU Treasurer's Annual Report ... 2

First Record of Glaucous-winged Gull for Nebraska ... 3

Winter Field Report, December-February 1995-96 ... 5

Nebraska Christmas Bird Count for 1995 ... 17

1996 Survey of Bald and Golden Eagles in Nebraska ... 26

1992, 1993 (Fifth) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 30

Notes on Bird Sightings in Nebraska ... 35

1996 Survey Of Bald And Golden Eagles In Nebraska, John Dinan

Nebraska Bird Review

John Dinan, Nongame Bird Program Manager, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 2200 N. 33rd st., Lincoln, NE 68503-0370 (phone: 402/471-0641; Fax: 402/471-5528), supplied the results of the 1990 (January 3-15) Bald and Golden Eagle surveys. Nine organizations and twenty-one individuals participated in the survey.

Conditions for 1996 survey: Temperatures 10 to 50 0 F. The Niobrara River had 70 to 100% ice cover, while the unchannelized portion of the Missouri River was mostly open. The channelized portion of the Missouri was open but had floating ice. The Platte River had 50 to 90 % ice cover; the South Platte, 30 …

1992, 1993 (Fifth) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Joseph A. Gubanyi

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the 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 birds was last published in 1988 (NOU Records Committee 1988) and has been appended three times (Mollhoff 1989, Grenon 1990, and Grenon 1991).

This report includes accounts submitted in late 1991 as well as all records submitted during the calendar years of 1992 and 1993, covering records with accession numbers 295-358. All records mentioned …

Masthead From Nebraska Bird Review (March 1996) 64(1)

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears for dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $12.50 in the United States, $15.00 in Canada and Mexico, and $17.50 for all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $4.00 each, postpaid, in the United States, and $5.00 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Mary H. Pritchard, NOU Librarian, University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, NE 68588-0514.

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 72, No. 1), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Grouse News 11-20 (1996-2000), World Pheasant Association International, Diana Lovel

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

Issue 11 (June 1996)

Editorial, Diana Lovel

Diary of David and Margaret's visit to the Pyrenees June 19-28, 1995

Adaptability of gamebirds, David Jenkins

Pheasants and grouse, Matt Ridley

Letter to the editor, Tim Lovel

Grouse Group founded, Rudi Suchant

Hybrids between capercaillie and black grouse and their characteristics, Jan Porkert

Does the occurrence of capercaillie-black grouse hybrids in Øvre Landvik, southern Norway signalize the coming extinction of capercaillies, as it did in Ostsudeten in the Czech Republic? Jan Porkert in cooperation with Arne Flor

Review of Naturschutz report

The effect of matrix on the occurrence of hazel grouse in …

Factors Affecting Interannual Movements Of Snowy Plovers, Peter W. C. Paton, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

We studied the interannual movements of 361 individually color-banded adult Snowy Plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) at Great Salt Lake, Utah from 1990 to 1993. In northern Utah, Snowy Plovers nested in a dynamic environment; suitable breeding habitat declined by 50% at two study areas in four years. Male Snowy Plovers were more site faithful than females; 40% of males exhibited fidelity compared with 26% of females (P < 0.01). However, as the amount of available suitable nesting habitat declined, male site fidelity diminished, whereas female fidelity remained relatively constant. We found strong evidence that female site fidelity was affected by nesting success in the previous year. Females that nested unsuccessfully were less likely than successful females to exhibit site fidelity the following year; males did not exhibit this nest-success bias. In addition, unsuccessful females breeding at sites with high densities of nests tended to disperse the following year, whereas male site fidelity did not appear to be affected by either a study site's overall nesting success the previous year or a study site's nest density the previous year. Female avoidance of areas with high densities of nests may be an antipredator strategy. Snowy Plovers in northern Utah have biparental incubation duties, but only males care for broods. Familiarity with brood-rearing areas was one plausible explanation for male-biased fidelity. However, we could not eliminate an alternative hypothesis that both focal study sites represented scarce breeding areas due to the presence of freshwater, and male Snowy Plovers preferred to use the same areas rather than disperse. We propose that more landscape-level studies are needed to address questions concerning local and regional movement patterns.

Pqf News: Newsletter Of The Partridge, Quail, And Francolin Specialist Group 7-12 (1996-1998), Iucn Species Survival Commission, Birdlife International, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

The purpose of the newsletter is to receive details of new projects, re-assessments of the status of relevant species, interesting discoveries or observations, taxonomic changes, conservation successes or threats and anything else that members might find interesting. We would like in future issues to produce a list of relevant publications which appear during the year in order to keep members up-to-date with current information. We will publish requests for contacts or information, advertisements for conferences and workshops and news of projects and project proposals.

Issue 7 (Autumn 1996)

Foreword by John P. Carroll

In focus: Punjab Wildlife Research and Training …

Birds Of The Cedar Point Biological Station Area, Keith And Garden Counties, Nebraska: Seasonal Occurrence And Breeding Data, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Paul A. Johnsgard, Josef Kren, William C. Scharf

Papers in Ornithology

The North Platte River valley (elev. ca 3300 ft/990 m) in Garden and Keith counties, Nebraska, has an avifauna of 305 species, the richest known north of Texas in the Great Plains. More than 25 years of observations, mist-netting, banding, and breeding-bird surveys by the authors and others have revealed 104 breeding, 17 probably breeding, and 184 transient, casual, and accidental species. Hybridization of eastern with western species is evidenced by intermediates between Rose-breasted and Black-headed grosbeaks, Indigo and Lazuli buntings, Eastern and Spotted towhees, Baltimore and Bullock’s orioles, and yellow- and red-shafted morphs of Northern Flicker; Eastern and Western …

Faunal Diversity Among Avian Parasite Assemblages: The Interaction Of History, Ecology, And Biogeography In Marine Systems, Eric P. Hoberg

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Systematics and parasite biodiversity provide power and predictability in broad studies of history, ecology and biogeography in marine systems. Parasitic helminths are elegant markers of contemporary and historical ecological relationships, geographic distribution and host-phylogeny. Complex life cycles of helminths are strongly correlated with intricate food-webs. Dependence on a series of intermediate, paratenic, and definitive hosts indicates that each parasite species represents an array of organisms within a community and tracks broadly and predictably across many trophic levels. Host and geographic ranges of parasites are historically constrained by genealogical and ecological associations, and these determinents interact resulting in characteristic parasite community …

Annual Review Of The World Pheasant Association 1995/1996, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Pheasant Specialist Group, Peter J. Garson

Partridge, Quail and Francolin Specialist Group, Simon D. Dowell

Grouse Specialist Group, Matt Ridley

The Seventh International Grouse Symposium, Fort Collins, USA, Anne Westerberg

Megapode Specialist Group, René W. R. J. Dekker

Captive Breeding Advisory Committee, Han Assink

WPA-South Asia Regional Office and captive crested argus, Rahul Kaul

Brown eared-pheasant project report. Zhang Zheng-wang

Saving the Blyth's tragopan. Ron Sumner

Why are Lophura pheasants so variable? Geoffrey Davison

Recent rare pheasant observations in Chin State, West Myanmar (Burma), Ben King, Dave Farrow, Craig Robson, Hugh Buck. Tim Fishe

Fall Field Report, August-November 1995, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Generally this was a "normal" fall, if there is such a thing; a few new early and late dates but no pattern, a few notable species showing or absent, and a few rarities. Grebes and loons were in evidence, including Red-throated and Pacific Loons and Red-necked Grebe, but geese did not arrive (or were not reported) in great numbers by the end of the period. The less common herons were in good numbers, notably Snowy Egret, and also Little Blue Heron and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. Notable for their absence were the thrushes; few Swainson's were found, and no Gray-cheeked, Veery, or …

Whooping Crane Sightings During July-December 1995 Migration, Steven Anschutz

Nebraska Bird Review

The first dates recorded for confirmed observations of migrating Whooping Cranes were July 13 in Canada and September 2 in the United States, and the last date was November 6 in Nebraska. Sightings were reported in Canada from Alberta (1) and Saskatchewan (34), and in the U.S. from North Dakota (4), South Dakota (1), Nebraska (4), Kansas (10), and Oklahoma (2). The weather during September and October was mild with minor disturbances on Sept. 20 and Oct. 23 causing snow over the Northern Great Plains. The first significant outbreak of cold air occurred during the week of November 5. Based …

Index To Volume 63

Nebraska Bird Review

Index to Volume 63

8 pages

A-Z

Nebraska Ornithologists' Union Fall Field Days, October 6-8, 1995, At The Nebraska National Forest Near Halsey

Nebraska Bird Review

Betty Grenon, Treasurer, reported that NOU has 240 members.

George Brown, Past President, reported on plans for the 1996 Annual Meeting to be held in Kearney, NE on May 17-19. Bill Huser, Vice President, announced that the 1997 Annual Meeting will be held jointly with The Iowa Ornithologists' Union and The South Dakota Ornithologists’ Union in South Sioux City, NE. in May (dates not set). There was some discussion about having a hospitality room to encourage mixing of the three groups. The 1996 Fall Field Days will be held at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey on the first weekend …

A Possible Breeding Record For Clark's Nutcracker, Diana F. Tomback

Nebraska Bird Review

In the late morning of 17 May, 1987, my husband and I drove into Sowbelly Canyon, which is in the Pine Ridge area in northwestern Nebraska. In the canyon, about 3.3 miles from Harrison, we were in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)–riparian community ecotone, and were startled to hear and see a flock of Clark's Nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana). About 30 adults were perched on branches or flying about the tops of the ponderosa pines. From the abundance of cones, it was clear that there had been a good seed crop the previous fall. Some of the …

Nebraska Bird Review (December 1995) 63(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Table of Contents

Fall Field Report, August-November, 1995 ..............94

Observers for Fall Field Report ..............113

A Possible Breeding Record for Clark's Nutcracker in Northwestern Nebraska in 1987.............. 114

Whooping Crane Sightings, July-December, 1995 Migration ..............116

NOU Fall Field Days, 1995, Nebraska National Forest: Executive Committee Meeting ..............117

Table for NOU Fall Bird Count, October 7-8, 1995 ..............117

Index to Volume 63..............120

Cracid Global Captive Action Recommendations, Working Document: Report From A Workshop Held October 1-3, 1994, Luud Geerlings, Alan Rost, Chelle Plasse, Dave Thompson, Stuart Strahl, Onnie Byers

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Conference Proceedings

Executive Summary

Of the 88 distinct Cracid taxa considered by participants during the Cracid Conservation Assessment and Management Plan workshop, 49 species/subspecies (in various categories of threat according to the Draft IUCN Red List criteria) were assigned to one of 3 levels of captive programs:

Level 1 27 taxa (10 Critical, 7 Endangered, 9 Vulnerable, 1 Low Risk)

Level 2 9 taxa (1 Critical, 2 Endangered, 4 Vulnerable, 2 Conservation Dependent)

Level 3 13 taxa (11 Low Risk, 2 Vulnerable)

Captive programs for 14 taxa were listed as "pending", meaning that recommendations for these taxa would be postponed until further …

Wpa News 49 (1995), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (November 1995), number 49

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 71, No. 4), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Summer Field Report, June-July 1995, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This was an interesting summer, with a few rarities, further information on species that are restricted or rare in NE in summer and a couple of additional observations, which involve a little speculation on my part.

Perhaps the best of the rarities was a Neotropic Cormorant at Valentine NWR, while the apparent presence of a Black Rail population at Crescent L NWR is intriguing. Unexpected also were 2 Pacific Loons at L. McConaughy.

Isolated populations or just plain rare summer birds in NE provided interest, with updates on Mississippi Kite at Ogallala, Red-shouldered Hawk at Fontenelle Forest, Acadian Flycatcher at …

Nebraska Bird Review (September 1995) 63(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Table of Contents

Summer Field Report, June-July 1995 .................... 70

Observers for Summer Report 82 Whooping Crane Sightings During Spring Migration, 1995.................... 82

Notes on Bird sightings in Nebraska .................... 84

Wintering Bald Eagle Survey in Central Nebraska, 1994-95 .................... 84

First Nesting Records for Mississippi Kite in Nebraska .................... 88

Cattle Egrets Nesting in Keith County.................... 89

Nebraska Waterfowl Stamp and Neal R. Anderson .................... 90

Nebraska Ornithologists' Union 1995 Annual Meeting .................... 91