Date: 10/30/24 4:33 pm From: Robin Harding via groups.io <pine2siskin4...> Subject: [NEBirds] Harlan County
Nebraska birders,
On Sunday, October 27, Bill Flack and I birded in Harlan County. We
arrived at the nature trail below the dam at Harlan County Reservoir just
before 8 am. It was chilly and the birding was good. We walked the long
loop of the trail and found twenty species. The woodland birding recently
has been very sparse. It was nice to see lots of activity.
Highlights included a couple Belted Kingfishers even though there was not a
lot of water flowing below the dam. We heard a Greater Yellowlegs call as
it flew over. We saw a couple Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Black-capped
Chickadee. There was also an Osprey. The best sighting was, not only one
but three Fox Sparrows. They are a new county bird for me. I have now
reached 200 in this county. I have only three counties over 200 and they
are very close to my home.
At Gremlin Cove, we walked along a berm separating the cove from a large
area with lots of cover. It looks like the plants grew well earlier this
year and are now dry. The sparrows kept flying up out of the weeds, going
a short distance and diving back under the cover. It’s frustrating but we
did identify Song, White-crowned, House, Lincoln’s, and Harris’s Sparrows.
Bill was able to spot Field and White-throated Sparrows as well.
After lunch in Alma, we drove to the south end of the bridge and walked out
on the dry lake bed until it began to feel soft and squishy. We were able
to see Franklin’s and Ring-billed Gulls, a couple Bald Eagles, a bunch of
Killdeer, cormorants and American White Pelicans.
At the south sewage ponds, we finally found some waterfowl. There were
Mallards, Redheads, Shovelers and Green-winged Teal. Bill showed me a
stretch of minimum maintenance road with lots of trees and bushes a few
miles south of the lake. It was mid-afternoon so there were not many birds
but we did see an American Kestrel.
Methodist Cove was our last stop late in the afternoon. There were many
gulls and cormorants on the water. A Wilson’s Snipe was acting like a
dowitcher out on the open shoreline. We saw three first year gulls that
were entirely brown. We got a fairly good look at one of them. Its bill
was all dark and rather large. Its wingtips extended well beyond the tip
of its tail. I thought that it was a Herring Gull at the time but a couple
days later, I saw that someone reported seeing a first year California
Gull. Now, I’m not sure. How do you identify first year gulls?
