On Mon, Dec 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM Matt Shurtliff via groups.io
<mmscornhusker...> wrote:
> Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S288423016 >
> I had the incredible thrill of having my 300th Nebraska bird be the
> Crested caracara. I think many of us like listing, and memorable
> experiences, and good birding partners, and milestones. I had all of that
> tied together in this one sighting.
>
> So ... Tobin hooks me up with the Discord chat to follow the latest on the
> Caracara. I can't go until Saturday work wise. In the chat Em is looking to
> hitchhike along if anyone is passing through Lancaster County. So, we
> connect. We agree if there's a sighting Friday it's on. There is, so I pick
> Em up at 6 am in Lincoln.
>
> The conversation along the drive was wide, varied, and epic. I'll just
> tell you, Em does a great Richard Burton from Who's Afraid of Virginia
> Woolf.
>
> It's getting icy on this drive. There's a time where we're considering
> bailing. At a gas station we talk to a group of farmers on their morning
> "solve the world's problems" coffee meeting. I ask about the roads. One
> assured me the route would be ok. I took that as a sign. :)
>
> Eventually we get to Keith County, cross the dam, and head down 92. At 20
> miles out, we lock in. No more wide and varied conversation. All we're
> talking about is how we find this bird. We have the "your eyes on the road,
> mine on the birds" conversation.
>
> We get lucky. We see the bird immediately. But ... it's flying about 300
> yards away, just in front of the beige building on the NW corner of 92 and
> 207. We get a 20-ish second view as it crosses 92 to the North, with trees
> impeding view.
>
> So, there we sit, and ID a silhouette of a large flying raptor where we
> can't see the famous face/head characteristics. We can see a flash of
> light/dark color, and we can see wing shape, wing style, tail angle, and
> flight characteristics. We start ruling out possibles. Buteos were out.
> Bald eagle - out. The last DQ was Harrier. We asked each other if we were
> certain, and we agreed.
>
> You wouldn't know this about me, but the thing I enjoy the most is what I
> call "good birding" - when you need to go deep into your toollbox to ID a
> bird. You don't have the visual you need for the full set of field marks.
> You don't have vocalization. You have things like silhouette, posture, wing
> appearance, etc. I'm not as good as many here in that process, but it's
> my favorite thing about birding.
>
> So, I got Nebraska #300, collaborating with a fine young birder who's
> going to become better than me if they haven't already, by ID-ing my
> favorite way. The only way it could be better is if JRR Tolkien and Tom
> Osborne were with us. I don't know if Em caught this or not, but I had
> tears well up at the whole thing.
>
> Less than 5 minutes after we agree, there's a flash from Ebird, Mark
> Brogie reported it. So we get the Appeal to Authority :).
>
> Em is on the phone telling their mother, who is just learning birding, and
> is chasing a Prothonotary warbler in California at the same time. I told Em
> to tell their mother that their partner says that they are a great birder.
>
>
> We try and relocate the CC. We eventually end up with a 30-minute spotting
> scope view about 200 yards out in the same field, as it tore apart and ate
> a Canada goose. You could see blood on the goose's feather, and pieces of
> flesh. That's how good the scope view was. The best picture we have is old
> school digiscoping - Em shooting a phone picture through the scope
> eyepiece. That's in the checklist.
>
> Em later shares that picture to the Discord chat. With a caption that says
> "A digiscopic observation of rapid caracarogenic metamorphosis in *Branta
> canadensis*." We worked on that a bit on the drive home. Em provided
> "rapid." I served up "caracara-induced," then Em improved it. You get the
> idea.
>
> Other cool things happened. In addition to 300, we saw Kestrel, Merlin,
> and Prairie falcon. So, we're in the club of those who have had a Nebraska
> 4-falcon day without a Peregrine. Em wanted to see a Townsend's solitaire
> while we were there. Tobin recommended Lake Ogallala, and I went straight
> to a tree grove where I'd seen one years before. Tick. At the Caracara
> field, a Merlin blasted over a mass of Starlings on the ground, causing
> Starling Mayhem. It was just that kind of day.
>
> And ... a mysterious Buteo that flew directly overhead at 20 feet. We
> watched through binoculars as it approached, flew straight over our heads,
> and flew away. Neither of us had a camera. We couldn't tell what it was.
> And we tried hard, went through Sibleys. We left it at the genus level on
> the checklist.
>
> There's even more to the story, but that's probably enough.
>
> --
> Matt Shurtliff
> Sarpy County
> <mmscornhusker...>
>
>
>
