Poultry or Avian Science Commons^™

2007–2008 Christmas Bird Counts In Nebraska

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2007-08 Christmas Bird Count (CBC) period will be remembered for snow cover and cold temperatures. More counts than usual were postponed due to weather. The average high temperature on count day this year was 28°F and the low was 12°F, both of which are 5-10° colder than any count day average since 2000-01. Only three counts made it above freezing during the course of the day. Snow was also a problem, and although only two circles recorded precipitation on the day of the count, snow cover and ice from earlier storms resulted in stuck vehicles, arduous walking, and inaccessible …

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): …

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.

[Photographs: Least Bittern, Pomarine Jaeger, Wood Stork, And White-Winged Dove]

Nebraska Bird Review

Least Bittern, North Lake Basin WMA, Seward County, 9 June 2007. Photo by Joseph Gubanyi.

Pomarine Jaeger, Lake McConaughy, Keith County, 17 September 2005. Photo by Stephen J. Dinsmore.

Wood Stork, west of Ashland, Saunders County, 2 August 2006. Photo by Joel Jorgensen.

White-winged Dove, Johnson farm, 7 miles NW of Wakefield, Dixon County, 15 June 2008. Photo by Jan Johnson.

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 …

A Synaptic Basis For Auditory-Vocal Integration In The Songbird, Eric E. Bauer, Melissa J. Coleman, Todd F. Roberts, Arani Roy, Jonathan F. Prather, Richard Mooney

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Songbirds learn to sing by memorizing a tutor song that they then vocally mimic using auditory feedback. This developmental sequence suggests that brain areas that encode auditory memories communicate with brain areas for learned vocal control. In the songbird, the secondary auditory telencephalic region caudal mesopallium (CM) contains neurons that encode aspects of auditory experience. We investigated whether CM is an important source of auditory input to two sensorimotor structures implicated in singing, the telencephalic song nucleus interface (NIf) and HVC. We used reversible inactivation methods to show that activity in CM is necessary for much of the auditory-evoked activity …

Experimental Inoculation Of House Sparrows (Passer Domesticus) With Buggy Creek Virus, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Amy T. Moore, Nicholas A. Panella, Eric A. Edwards, Mary Bomberger Brown, Nicholas Komar, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We performed experimental inoculations of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) with Buggy Creek virus (BCRV), a poorly known alphavirus (Togaviridae) vectored primarily by the swallow bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae: Oeciacus vicarius) that is an ectoparasite of the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and house sparrow. Viremias were detected by plaque assay in two of six birds on days 1–3 postinoculation; viremia was highest on day 2. Viral RNA was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in blood of six of 12 birds ranging from day 1 to day 15 postinoculation. Infectious BCRV was detected in …

A Spatial Sirs Boolean Network Model For The Spread Of H5n1 Avian Influenza Virus Among Poultry Farms, Alexander Kasyanov, Leona Kirkland, Mihaela Teodora Matache

Mathematics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

To predict the spread of Avian Influenza we propose a synchronous Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Susceptible (SIRS) Boolean network of poultry farms, using probabilistic Boolean rules. Gravity models from transportation theory are used for the probability of infection of a node in one time step, taking into account farm sizes, distances be- tween farms, and mean distance travelled by birds. Basic reproduction numbers are computed analytically and numerically. The dynamics of the network are analyzed and various statistics considered such as number of infected nodes or time until eradication of the epidemic. We conclude that mostly when large farms (eventually) become infected the epidemic …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Malic Acid, Nisin, And Grape Seed Extract Incorporated Into Whey-Protein Coatings To Inhibit The Growth Of Listeria Monocytogenes On Ready-To-Eat Poultry, Amanda Bettasso, Navam Hettiarachychy, Vidya Chitturi, Michael Johnson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The ability to control growth of Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat poultry products with the antimicrobials nisin, malic acid, and grape seed extract incorporated into whey-protein coatings was evaluated. The antimicrobials were incorporated into the coating solution alone and in combinations. One gram pieces of turkey frankfurters were coated with the coating solutions and then inoculated with L. monocytogenes and stored at 4°C for 28 days. The inhibitory effect of the coatings on turkey frankfurter pieces was evaluated on d 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28. Coatings containing 2% malic acid, 3% malic acid, and the combination of nisin (6,000 IU/g) …

Distribution Patterns And Habitat Use Of Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus Spp.) In Modified Landscapes In The South-West Of Western Australia, Marieke S. Weerheim

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Conservation planning for animal species inhabiting modified landscapes requires understanding of where animals occur and how they utilise both natural and modified habitats. In this study the distribution and foraging behaviour of the forest red-tailed cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso), Baudin’s cockatoo (C. baudinii) and Carnaby’s cockatoo (C. latirostris) was investigated in three study areas which each contained a different combination of modified habitats. Pickering Brook contained native forest and orchards, Wungong contained a mosaic of native forest and revegetation, while Karnet contained primarily native forest and paddocks. The relationship between cockatoo distribution and land use types was examined by constructing …