Date: 3/28/25 7:32 pm From: Rita Cunha via groups.io <rita23cunha...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Sandhills adventure
Robin, what an adventure! So happy to hear you added more birds to your
county lists. Reading your exciting write-up now has me itching for a road
trip around the Sandhills…
Rita Cunha
Valley County
On Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 9:26 PM Robin Harding via groups.io <pine2siskin4=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Nebraska birders,
>
> I enjoy county listing because it motivates me to go birding in new and
> different places. I’d been looking at my lists and noticing that I was
> woefully deficient of waterfowl species in McPherson and Hooker Counties.
> That was almost enough to get me inspired to go but the clincher was Bill
> Flack’s offer to show me the bodies of water that he was familiar with.
>
> I took a little time off from work so that we could bird in Grant and
> Arthur Counties as well. Maybe even Thomas County on the way home. I
> always love birding in the Sandhills. It’s beautiful countryside. There
> is so much to see and those one lane blacktop roads are a real adventure.
> After seeing nobody for several miles, you almost hope to bump into someone
> to talk with.
>
> Bill and I started in McPherson County on March 20. We drove west from
> Tryon on highway 92 and found a small roadside pond with a few ducks. We
> continued to Schick Lake and found it covered with at least a dozen
> different species of waterfowl. Next was Diamond Bar Lake, where there was
> another impressive group of waterfowl. We were unable to identify many of
> the waterfowl because of distance and poor lighting. Then we went to Dry
> Lake and Sand Beach Lake. I didn’t even have Canada Goose in McPherson
> county until this day. Bill had already seen 140 species in the county.
> New county birds for me also included Green-winged Teal, Canvasback,
> Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, American White Pelican, Northern
> Pintail, Ring-billed Gull, and Common Goldeneye.
>
> In Hooker County, that first evening, we found some Greater
> Prairie-Chickens, which was a new county bird for me. As the sun set, we
> arrived at a North Fork Dismal River crossing. We heard some clucking
> sounds and found some Wild Turkeys roosting up in the trees (another new
> county bird). When it was almost dark, we were standing on the bridge
> enjoying the calm, comfortable weather when we heard the whinny of an
> Eastern Screech Owl. It was a new county bird for both of us. The next
> morning, we started at the Mullen sewage lagoon then drove west along
> highway 2. We stopped at a couple ponds near mile markers 168 and 169.
> Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Bufflehead and
> Canvasback were new Hooker County birds for me.
>
> We continued into Grant County, stopping in the parking lot of a church
> with a nice view of Doc lake. There, we saw two Sharp-tailed Grouse on the
> lawn, which was rather odd. They were new county birds for me. There was
> a fair number of ducks out on the lake. Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Duck
> were new county birds. We drove to Carr Lake which is bisected by the
> Grant/Hooker County line. On the Hooker side, I added American Coot and
> Green-winged Teal to my county list. Back in Grant County at Avocet WMA,
> we saw more waterfowl including a Common Merganser which was a new county
> bird. There were waterfowl everywhere including Frye Lake and Long Lake in
> Grant County. Hooded Merganser was a new county bird for both of us.
> Bill’s new total is 149 and mine is 103.
>
> We drove south into Arthur County and then back to the north on Whitman
> Road. We found even more waterfowl at Box Lake and Swan Lake. Again, we
> were unable to identify many of the waterfowl because of distance and poor
> lighting. I was able to add many to my county list including Bufflehead,
> Canvasback, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon,
> Ring-necked Pheasant and Bald Eagle. My Arthur County list is up to 73.
>
> From Swan Lake, we crossed back into northwestern McPherson County and saw
> Cackling Geese which was a new county bird for both of us. We also saw
> Trumpeter Swans, Sharp-tailed Grouse, and American Wigeon which were new
> county birds for me. Bill’s new total is 141 and mine is 97.
>
> We drove back up into Hooker County to find East Cody Lake. Trumpeter
> Swan and Common Merganser were new county birds for me. A little to the
> west, we found a Lesser Yellowlegs which was new for both of us. Then we
> drove back into Grant County, stopping at the headwaters of the North Fork
> Dismal River. Greater Prairie-Chicken was a new county bird for me at that
> location.
>
> The morning of March 22, we found ourselves in Hyannis. I stepped outside
> early in the morning and heard a Great Horned Owl. It was a new Grant
> County bird. Bill has seen or heard the owl in all 93 counties. Just
> makes you sick, doesn’t it? He has seen more than sixty species in all 93
> counties. We walked around town a bit and found a bird feeder with a
> Dark-eyed Junco. It was another new county bird for me. We drove back to
> Frye Lake and saw many ducks and a Bald Eagle. The eagle and Common
> Goldeneye were new county birds for me. We visited the cemetery in Hyannis
> and then back out to Avocet WMA and Doc Lake. There were still many
> waterfowl to be seen including a beautiful Hooded Merganser. We walked in
> the town of Whitman and saw five Sharp-tailed Grouse.
>
> We drove back into Hooker County and visited the Mullen sewage lagoon
> again. My new total for Hooker County is 81 and Bill’s is 150. Then we
> moved on to Thomas County and birded the Seneca area. There are ponds just
> east of town where we saw many ducks. I added eight species to my county
> list and Bill got none. That’s too bad. His total remains at 135. Mine
> is 141. We also stopped in Thedford and found a few Greater
> Prairie-Chickens booming between the golf course and the river. We also
> walked around the campground in the National Forest near Halsey. We saw a
> few chickadees and a bunch of Cedar Waxwings.
>
> Everything has been entered onto ebird.
>
> You’re probably tired of reading by now but it was quite an adventure. It
> reminded me of years ago when the NOU held fall meetings at the 4-H camp in
> the Forest.
>
> Robin Harding
> Shelton, Nebraska
>
>
>
