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Nebraska Bird Review (September 2015) 83(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2015 ... 102

2014 (26th) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 125

First Nesting Record and Status Review of the Glossy Ibis in Nebraska … 139

In Memory of Roland E. Barth … 149

Subscription and Organization Information ... 151

First Nesting Record And Status Review Of The Glossy Ibis In Nebraska, Joel G. Jorgensen, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is believed to be a recent colonist from the Old World whose numbers have increased and range has expanded in North America over the past two centuries (Patten and Lasley 2000). Glossy Ibis range expansion has been described as involving periods of relative stability followed by periods of rapid increase (Patten and Lasley 2000). Prior to the 1980s, Glossy Ibis were primarily found in the southeastern United States and along the Atlantic Coast (Patten and Lasley 2000). In the mid to late 1980s, Glossy Ibis began to rapidly increase and expand into Texas. By …

2014 (26th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The "Official List of the Birds of Nebraska" was first published in 1988 (NOU 1988) and has been updated three times (NOURC 1997, 2004, 2009). The "Official List" has been appended twenty-four times: (Mollhoff 1989; Grenon 1990, 1991; Gubanyi 1996a, 1996b, 1996c; Brogie 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009a, 2009b; 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014; Jorgensen 2001, 2002, 2003).

The American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds, Seventh Edition (1998) and its following supplements: (AOU: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), contain many taxonomic changes affecting North American …

Summer Field Report, June–July 2015, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This summer was very wet over most of the state. Breeding Bird Survey operators noted impassible roads, especially in the western Sandhills. The benefits to water birds in the Rainwater Basin were obvious, however, with notable breeding records for Ruddy Duck and White-faced Ibis, as well as the first documented breeding in the state of Glossy Ibis, and the first Rainwater Basin breeding for Double-crested Cormorant and third for Eared Grebe.

Additional notable breeding records were led by Osprey; after 7 years of trying at various locations, success came with a bang, as at least 3 nests successfully fledged young, …

Nou Spring Field Days And Annual Meeting, Valentine, May 15–17, 2015, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The annual meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union was held in Valentine May 15–17, 2015, and ably organized by Dave Heidt and Betty Grenon. Although muddy roads from a Friday night storm prevented travel to several planned field trip destinations on Saturday and rain cut short field trips on Sunday morning, the 58 attendees were able to locate and identify 180 species. Most of the birding took place in Cherry County, and many birders commented happily on the good number of species they were able to add to their Cherry Co. lists.

On Friday evening Wayne Mollhoff told the group …

Oriole Consumption Of Grape Jelly, Gary Lingle

Nebraska Bird Review

It is well known that several species of orioles are attracted to grape (Vitis sp.) jelly. A few years ago I began “feeding” grape jelly to orioles in my yard in Buffalo County. Both Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) and, to a lesser extent, Orchard Orioles (Icterus spurius) frequented my feeder upon their arrival in early May and fed daily until the red mulberries (Morus rubra) ripened and nesting had commenced prior to mid-June. At that time visitation to my feeder plummeted from a high of 1.5 birds per minute to 0 .1 birds …

Subscription And Organization Information [June 2015]

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): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

Spring Field Report, March 2015 To May 2015, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This was a largely uneventful spring in terms of major events, as most species stayed within their ranges and movement timing parameters. There are always a few stochastic exceptions, but no clear pattern of, for example, early arrival dates was discernible. However, several interesting situations came to light, and there were a few rarities detected. A Couch’s Kingbird in Sarpy Co was well described but awaits a determination by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union Records Committee as to whether the evidence is strong enough to add this species to the Official State Bird List. Other exciting finds were a wintering Brown …

Nebraska Bird Review (June 2015) 83(2), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March 2015 to May 2015 ... 54

NOU Spring Field Days and Annual Meeting, Valentine, May 5–17, 2015 … 86

Oriole Consumption of Grape Jelly ... 93

Book Review of At Home and at Large in the Great Plains: Essays and Memories by Paul A. Johnsgard ... 98

Subscription and Organization Information ... 99

Book Review [Of At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories], Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

Nebraska birders may remember reading some of the 14 essays published in this book, since they appeared previously in Prairie Fire, the monthly Great Plains public policy newspaper. Topics of the short and engaging essays range from changing bird life to outstanding birding areas to conservation in the Great Plains. We read about sediment deposits, the “gifts of glaciers past,” which were left by retreating rivers of ice thousands of years ago and resulted in the creation of the prairie potholes so important now to our waterfowl and wading birds. One essay marvels at the variety of animal skeletons, including …

Nebraska Bird Review (March 2015) 83(1), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Treasurer’s Report, December 31, 2014 … 2

Winter Field Report, December 2014 to February 2015 … 3

In Memory of William F. Rapp, Jr. … 21

Color Photo Section (Birds in flight) … 23

A Hybrid Cliff × Barn Swallow from Western Nebraska … 31

2014–2015 Christmas Bird Counts … 36

Subscription and Organization Information ... 51

Subscription And Organization Information [March 2015]

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): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

In Memory Of William F. Rapp, Jr.

Nebraska Bird Review

Former NOU president and Nebraska Bird Review editor William F. Rapp, Jr., passed away on March 13, 2013, in Rochester, New York. Rapp was born in 1918 in Newark, New Jersey, and his interest in birds began during his junior high years. He attended Rutgers University and graduated in 1944 with a degree in entomology and geology. He was on the faculty of Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, where he taught various biology courses and ornithology for nonscience students. He attended his first Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union meeting in 1947. By the next year, he was the editor of the Nebraska …

2014–2015 Christmas Bird Counts, Don Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

Fourteen counts were held during the 2014–15 Christmas Bird Count season, which is one less than last season. Although the Beaver Valley and Harrison counts were not done this season, the Harlan County count was resumed after a twelve-year hiatus and produced several noteworthy species counts. It also should be noted that the Grand Island count was held on December 13, which is one day before the official Audubon sanctioned count period begins, but its results are included in this discussion.

Following a very mild first week of November, the second week started with a sudden cold snap which persisted …

Winter Field Report, December 2014 To February 2015, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

As with last winter, this was a rather ordinary winter ornithologically speaking, if indeed there is such a thing. There were a couple of genuine rarities to spice it up, but most of the interest was in unusual phenomena shown by a range of species. Ducks and swans and native sparrows seem to be more in evidence in mid-winter than in previous years, but it is difficult to relate winter occurrence to weather in any given year, except for isolated extreme events. There are, however, some trends showing up, as suggested by the ducks, swans, native sparrows, and a few …

A Hybrid Cliff × Barn Swallow From Western Nebraska, Charles R. Brown, Catherine E. Page

Nebraska Bird Review

The Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) occupy sympatric breeding ranges across much of North America, often nesting at colony sites that contain both species. Mixed-species nesting aggregations typically occur in box-shaped concrete culverts underneath roads or railways. Cliff Swallows’ enclosed mud nests can be as close as 1 m to Barn Swallows’ open mud nests, and at such sites Cliff Swallows regularly usurp both inactive and active Barn Swallow nests. The close proximity of these two ecologically similar species leads to at least occasional social interaction among them, such as during …

Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Treasurer’S Report, December 31, 2014

Nebraska Bird Review

One-page spreadsheet constituting the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union treasurer's report at year end (December 31) of 2014. The grand total is $59,882.03.

Birds In Flight, Color Photo Section [March 2015, Pp. 23–30]

Nebraska Bird Review

Photographs of Ring-billed Gull with fish, Arctic Tern, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Least Tern (p. 23); American Golden-Plovers, Great Blue Heron, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin and Stilt Sandpiper (p. 24); Great Egret, Sandhill Cranes, White-faced Ibis, and Glossy Ibis (p. 25); immature Bald Eagle with Snow Goose, Turkey Vulture, Common Goldeneye, Mute Swan and cygnet, and Red-tailed Hawk (p. 26); Upland Sandpiper, Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Meadowlark, female Dickcissel, and Grasshopper Sparrow (p. 27); Barn Owl chicks, adult Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl, and Northern Saw-whet Owl in nest box with eggs, chicks, deer mice, and voles (p. 28); adult Bald Eagle, Snow Geese, …

Fall Field Report, August–November 2014, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

My first paragraph from last year's fall report read as follows: "In most ways, this was a routine fall season. Most interesting from an ongoing point of view were quite a large number of sightings of passerines at rather late dates, notably among Empidonax flycatchers, wood warblers, native sparrows, tanagers, towhees, grosbeaks, and buntings." This fall was no different; the trend seems to be that final sighting dates for many species are pushing against their latest expected dates.

There were several tidbits of interest, more or less unrelated, but perhaps most notable takeaways for the season were the number of …

Holdrege Fall Field Days, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2014 NOU Fall Field Days took place in Holdrege at the Super 8 Motel on Sept. 19–21. There were about 35 in attendance at the meeting, which was organized by Dave Heidt and Betty Grenon.

On Friday evening Dave Heidt led a humor-filled discussion on bird songs and calls and ways to remember them, as audience members suggested their own mnemonic devices. On Saturday evening, T. J. Walker gave a presentation on the Nebraska Game and Parks' program of habitat rehabilitation to benefit Ring-necked Pheasants and other species. Field trip destinations on Saturday and on Sunday morning included Harlan …

Index To Volume 82

Nebraska Bird Review

Abegglen, Jeff 192
Abraham, K. F. 85
Aderman, T. 80
Addy, Darren 47
Adrian, Brad 47
Ahlschwede, Carla 40
Akers, Danny 100
Alberts: Byron 143; Deb 143
Alisaukis, R. T. 85
Allen: Edward 3, 48, 143, 153; Jan 48
Allison, Scott 49
American Ornithologists' Union 192

. . .

Wright, Rick 49
Wylie, Bruce 41

Yantachka, Jennifer 143
Yellowlegs: Greater 55, 88, 108, 160, 183; Lesser 56, 88, 108, 160, 183
Yellowtbroat, Common 26, 67, 91, 117, 175, 184

Zahurones, Penny 41
Ziolkowski, D. J. 80

Subscription And Organization Information [December 2014]

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): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

In Memory Of Margaret Triplett

Nebraska Bird Review

The NOU lost a longtime member in Kearney on August 7, 2014, when Margaret Sealing Triplett died.

Summary Of Raptor Banding Efforts At Hitchcock Nature Center, Fall 2014, Jerry Toll

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2014 season was by far the most unusual and frustrating season since the inception of raptor banding and hawk watch at the Hitchcock Nature Center in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, just north of Crescent. Banding diurnal raptors commenced on September 7th on schedule. The month of September was typical as far as capture rates and weather systems, although we were stymied somewhat by the lack of availability of European Starlings for lure birds. House Sparrows proved a nearly adequate substitute.

During the peak period of October, weather systems that drive diurnal raptor migration worked against monitoring efforts by forcing migration …

First Documented Nest Of Northern Saw-Whet Owl In Nebraska, Wayne J. Mollhoff

Nebraska Bird Review

Northern Saw-whet Owl was added to our avifauna with a list prepared by Taylor and Van Vleet (1889). The first suggestion of breeding was a second-hand report included in a paper presented at the first meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union in 1899 by M. A. Carriker, Jr., who "was told of a set of five eggs collected near Nebraska City about seven years ago" (1900), but which included no other details. At the next meeting, Bruner (1901) cited that report to include the species on a list of birds that breed in the state. Bruner, Swenk, and Walcott later …

Nebraska Bird Review (December 2014) 82(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August–November 2014 ... 150

Holdrege Fall Field Days … 181

Summary of Raptor Banding Efforts at Hitchcock Nature Center, Fall 2014 ... 186

First Documented Nest of Northern Saw-whet Owl in Nebraska ... 189

In Memory of Margaret Triplett … 194

Index to Volume 82 … 195

Subscription and Organization Information ... 207

Contact Zone Of The Eastern And Western Marsh Wrens In Nebraska Revisited, Mark B. Robbins

Nebraska Bird Review

Across the northern and coastal United States and southern central Canada the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a widespread breeder in cattail-dominated marshes. Although it has long been considered to be polytypic based on subtle plumage characters (Parkes 1959; Phillips 1986), it was not until Kroodsma (1989, 2005) demonstrated that there was a dramatic break in the primary (song) vocalization in the northern Great Plains that anyone suggested more than one species was involved. In 1986, as part of the delineation of the breeding distribution of both vocal types, Kroodsma (1988; see map therein) audio recorded wrens at …

Nebraska Bird Review (September 2014) 82(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2014 ... 98

Stomach Content Analysis of Recent Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) Specimens from Nebraska … 122

Contact Zone of the Eastern and Western Marsh Wrens in Nebraska Revisited ... 128

2013 (25th) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 131

Subscription and Organization Information ... 147

Summer Field Report, June–July 2014, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This summer was marked by the "unremarkability," if there is such a thing, of the status of almost all species, especially passerines. A stark exception, however, was the pair of summering hummingbirds in a yard a few miles southeast of Chadron: Juanita Whittecar sent a collection of very good photos of these birds, detailed enough to determine that the pair of supposed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds actually consisted of a female Ruby-throated and a hybrid Ruby-throated x Broad-tailed male. Another odd phenomenon was the number of shorebird species with late Jun records, usually the brief window within which these species are absent …

Subscription And Organization Information [September 2014]

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): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …