Date: 6/12/25 9:43 pm From: Paul Roisen via groups.io <roisenp1950...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Tilden Breeding Bird Survey summary
Jason,
Extremely excellent reporting, Jason. I know it is a lot of work, both
the route , counting, and then posting.... from back in the day in Iowa.
Seeing this on NEbirds instead of having to wait and maybe not see the
final report for Nebraska is a real joy for me. Thanks so much for
sharing. God Bless.
*Paul O. Roisen*
*Woodbury County, IA*
*Mobile 712-301-2817*
On Thu, Jun 12, 2025 at 10:28 PM Jason Thiele via groups.io <jasonthiele=
<hotmail.com...> wrote:
> Hello, Nebraska birders. On June 5, I ran my first Breeding Bird Survey
> route of the summer under amazing weather conditions. The Tilden route is
> one of the newer ones in the state and includes portions of Madison,
> Antelope, and Pierce counties. The first year of the route was the big
> flood year of 2019, and because of all the water on the landscape, the
> species list that year was higher than it will probably ever be again for
> this route at 73. This year I ended up with 64 species (of which 62 were
> likely breeders), which is right about on track with what I've been getting
> most years. Below is the list of species and counts. I copied and pasted it
> directly from the summary page on the BBS data entry portal, so
> unfortunately the species aren't displayed in the most logical order.
> Hopefully it will display OK in an e-mail.
>
> A few observations to note:
>
>
> - Northern Bobwhite numbers were the highest they have been on this
> route (keeping in mind that there aren't many years of data to compare).
> The previous high was 21 last year. A couple of mild winters paired with
> good production last year can probably account for the increase. Very light
> wind made for high detectability too.
> - As usual, there were still a few male Greater Prairie-Chickens
> displaying on leks.
> - Great Blue Heron was recorded for the first time.
> - I didn't record any species in what I would consider particularly
> high numbers, but it was a good day for blue birds, with my counts for Blue
> Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting both being my highest to date for the route and
> Blue Jays second-highest. However, I didn't record any Eastern Bluebirds.
> - For what I think was the second time on this route, I picked up a
> late Alder Flycatcher. As an aside, maybe they were just singing more than
> normal and I wasn't recording so many *Empidonax *flycatchers as
> "spuhs" this spring, but they seemed to be unusually abundant in this part
> of the state.
> - Three-minute point counts don't provide a lot of time to observe
> breeding behavior, but confirmed breeders (usually from observation of a
> nest or an adult bird carrying nesting material or food) included
> Red-headed Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Cliff Swallow,
> European Starling, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, and Common Grackle.
>
>
> *Species*
> * 1-10*
> * 11-20*
> * 21-30*
> * 31-40*
> * 41-50*
> * Total ind.*
> * Total Stops*
> Wood Duck
> 5
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 5
> 3
> Northern Bobwhite
> 5
> 15
> 4
> 2
> 1
> 27
> 16
> Wild Turkey
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Greater Prairie-Chicken
> 1
> 5
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 6
> 3
> Ring-necked Pheasant
> 19
> 27
> 10
> 5
> 5
> 66
> 36
> Rock Pigeon
> 0
> 5
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 6
> 2
> Eurasian Collared-Dove
> 5
> 2
> 5
> 8
> 2
> 22
> 18
> Mourning Dove
> 16
> 24
> 17
> 21
> 12
> 90
> 43
> Chimney Swift
> 3
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 4
> 3
> Killdeer
> 2
> 5
> 5
> 4
> 2
> 18
> 14
> Upland Sandpiper
> 1
> 6
> 1
> 1
> 4
> 13
> 11
> Red-tailed Hawk
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Red-headed Woodpecker
> 6
> 5
> 2
> 3
> 4
> 20
> 18
> Red-bellied Woodpecker
> 1
> 0
> 3
> 3
> 1
> 8
> 7
> (unid. Red / Yellow Shafted) Northern Flicker
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 0
> 1
> 3
> 3
> (Yellow-shafted Flicker) Northern Flicker
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 2
> 0
> 2
> 2
> Great Crested Flycatcher
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 1
> Eastern Kingbird
> 12
> 7
> 7
> 4
> 3
> 33
> 21
> Willow Flycatcher
> 0
> 2
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 4
> 4
> Eastern Phoebe
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 1
> Bell's Vireo
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Warbling Vireo
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 4
> 3
> 8
> 7
> Blue Jay
> 2
> 0
> 3
> 4
> 8
> 17
> 10
> American Crow
> 1
> 5
> 4
> 3
> 0
> 13
> 8
> Horned Lark
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 0
> 1
> 3
> 3
> Barn Swallow
> 3
> 4
> 19
> 11
> 20
> 57
> 20
> Cliff Swallow
> 6
> 0
> 36
> 2
> 9
> 53
> 6
> White-breasted Nuthatch
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 2
> 2
> Northern House Wren
> 6
> 1
> 4
> 9
> 3
> 23
> 20
> Gray Catbird
> 5
> 3
> 1
> 1
> 0
> 10
> 9
> Brown Thrasher
> 1
> 4
> 3
> 0
> 2
> 10
> 8
> European Starling
> 7
> 2
> 20
> 5
> 10
> 44
> 16
> American Robin
> 24
> 9
> 10
> 12
> 17
> 72
> 32
> House Sparrow
> 4
> 3
> 0
> 1
> 5
> 13
> 6
> House Finch
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 2
> 2
> American Goldfinch
> 0
> 4
> 2
> 9
> 1
> 16
> 8
> Grasshopper Sparrow
> 0
> 2
> 2
> 2
> 0
> 6
> 5
> Lark Sparrow
> 2
> 2
> 3
> 0
> 0
> 7
> 5
> Chipping Sparrow
> 4
> 0
> 1
> 2
> 1
> 8
> 7
> Field Sparrow
> 0
> 4
> 3
> 1
> 1
> 9
> 8
> Vesper Sparrow
> 0
> 2
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 4
> 4
> Song Sparrow
> 1
> 1
> 0
> 2
> 1
> 5
> 5
> unid. Spotted Towhee / Eastern Towhee
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 3
> 3
> Bobolink
> 0
> 0
> 3
> 2
> 0
> 5
> 4
> Western Meadowlark
> 0
> 14
> 13
> 3
> 6
> 36
> 22
> Orchard Oriole
> 3
> 3
> 0
> 2
> 2
> 10
> 9
> Baltimore Oriole
> 5
> 1
> 5
> 15
> 6
> 32
> 19
> Red-winged Blackbird
> 23
> 27
> 27
> 24
> 34
> 135
> 31
> Brown-headed Cowbird
> 3
> 21
> 19
> 24
> 4
> 71
> 30
> Common Grackle
> 8
> 5
> 4
> 5
> 12
> 34
> 19
> Common Yellowthroat
> 6
> 1
> 1
> 2
> 3
> 13
> 10
> Yellow Warbler
> 4
> 3
> 3
> 3
> 2
> 15
> 15
> Northern Cardinal
> 3
> 3
> 4
> 4
> 2
> 16
> 15
> Rose-breasted Grosbeak
> 2
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 3
> 3
> Blue Grosbeak
> 3
> 1
> 1
> 0
> 1
> 6
> 6
> Indigo Bunting
> 4
> 0
> 2
> 0
> 1
> 7
> 6
> Dickcissel
> 5
> 7
> 15
> 7
> 9
> 43
> 25
> Common Nighthawk
> 0
> 2
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 2
> 1
> unid. small ''peep'' sandpiper
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 14
> 0
> 14
> 1
> Great Blue Heron
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Great Horned Owl
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Belted Kingfisher
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Hairy Woodpecker
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 1
> Eastern Wood-Pewee
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> Alder Flycatcher
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> 1
> unid. Empidonax flycatcher
> 0
> 1
> 0
> 0
> 0
> 1
> 1
> *Total Species : 66*
> *Total ind. : 1166*
>
> Jason Thiele
> Norfolk, NE
>
>
>
