Date: 12/10/24 3:51 pm From: Boni Edwards via groups.io <boniedwards...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Johnson Lake
It was great to share a life bird for all of us!
On Mon, Dec 9, 2024, 7:34 AM Shirley Maas via groups.io <dtmsem2006=
<yahoo.com...> wrote:
> Thanks for your report.
>
> I real enjoy them. Bird is better when shared with friends.
>
> Don Maas
> 😊🎄🌵🌴🌵
>
>
> “If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government then you
> are doomed to live under the rules of fools.
> Plato
> “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of
> reality.”
>
> Don & Shirley Maas
> The Maas’s have migrated to the Valley of the Sun in Mesa, AZ from
> Choctaw, Ok for the winter.
>
> On Sunday, December 8, 2024, 5:29 PM, Robin Harding via groups.io
> <pine2siskin4...> wrote:
>
> Nebraska birders,
>
> I was planning on doing some county listing this weekend in Custer. Then
> I read Tobin’s message about the cool Short-billed Gull that he found at
> Johnson Lake and quickly changed my mind. I was doubly convinced when I
> read Bonnie and Colleen’s report of Long-tailed Duck and Lesser
> Black-backed Gull.
>
> I went Sunday morning to the reported location of the Short-billed Gull.
> I scoped the gulls from the shoreline. I saw mostly Ring-billed Gulls and
> several Herring Gulls. As usual, some of the gulls confused me. I didn’t
> see anything like Short-billed Gull. I took a break and scoped the ducks
> near the dam. I found the Long-tailed Duck but saw it just barely good
> enough to identify, which was not very satisfying but that’s the way it
> goes sometimes. It is a new county bird. I did, however, get a good look
> at a pair of Hooded Mergansers. Beautiful birds.
>
> I scoped the gull flock one more time and spotted the Lesser Black-backed
> Gull. I watched it for quite some time just to be sure. It must have been
> a subadult because of the pinkish legs and the bill had a red spot and some
> black smudging.
>
> I drove across the dam and around the west side of the lake. I came back
> around to the swimming beach in the southeast part of the lake again. The
> water level was very low and the exposed lake bed was dry enough to walk on
> so I walked out to the edge of the water near the dam to get a better look
> at the Long-tailed Duck. I could not find it again.
>
> I saw three people out on the dry lakebed looking at gulls so I walked
> over to them. There was Bonnie, Paul and Thane looking at the Short-billed
> Gull. What a treat it was to share a life bird with friends. Many thanks
> to Tobin for finding the bird and to Thane for showing me where it was
> located. I was able to watch it at close range for a long time.
>
> My life list is now 427 and my Gosper County list is 181.
>
> Along the way back home, I stopped by Bassway Strip but could not find the
> White-winged Scoter that Andrew reported.
>
> Robin Harding
> Shelton, NE
>
>
>
