Date: 12/22/25 7:36 am From: Jacob C. Cooper via groups.io <cooperj2...> Subject: [NEBirds] Kearney CBC
Hi all,
Yesterday, we held the Kearney CBC. My thanks again to everyone who came and helped and to the area leaders who helped cover this area - specifically, Robin Harding, Johnathan Nikkila, Amanda Hegg, Cody McGregor, TJ Walker, and Mike Roffman. I’m still waiting on a few feeder watchers to report, but we have the bulk of our results in at present.
In all, folks reported 76 species of birds - 3 shy of our all-time maximum of 79 last year. We had four new species reported on the count - Clay-colored Sparrow (2 of them in a hotel parking lot found by Cody McGregor), Ross’s Goose (multiple groups), Red Crossbill and Spotted Towhee (both RECR + SPTO Johnathan Nikkila, first non “count week” records) - which brings the all-time species total for the Kearney CBC to 110 species.
Although the weather was not too bad yesterday - up to the 40s F with consistent wind chills pushing things into the 30s or 20s - the cold snaps earlier in the year markedly decreased the numbers of waterbirds present this year, with several species recorded last year absent this year (Canvasback, Redhead, etc.). Number of birds from last year -> this year include Wood Duck (51 -> 2), Gadwall (41 -> 0), Green-winged Teal (66 -> 12), and Common Goldeneye (47 -> 12). Despite these decreases, many goose numbers were similar to last year or even higher, with Snow Geese breaking the previous high count of 31 birds with an astonishing 5164 reported across the circle, mostly in the form of large flocks moving overhead throughout the day.
Perhaps the most interesting thing of the day (to me) is that we have finally started figuring out where to get our Screech-Owls on the count. There are lots of Screech-Owls reported in town, but many of these urban owls are reticent to respond. We checked a lot of the Platte River batture (i.e., elevated riverbanks) to see what we could find. We far exceeded the previous high count of 2 Eastern Screech-Owls for the CBC with 22 individuals being reported yesterday - 13 of which were by one group alone and all but one of which were in riverine thickets.
Another noteworthy find was Northern Bobwhite. While reported fairly regularly in the early years of the count, we have not found a single one in the past two years. This year, however, multiple groups found them, with a total of 37 being reported. It is unclear if we all just got lucky or if it was a good year for them in the area.
Noteworthy sightings/misses below; high counts are shown as This Year [Previous Record]:
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Snow Goose - high count - 5164 [31]
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Ross’s Goose - new for the count - 38
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Cackling Goose. - high count - 1026 [661]
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American Wigeon - high count - 15 [1]
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Ring-necked Duck - high count - 16 [15]
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Lesser Scaup - high count - 9 [3]
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Greater Prairie-Chicken - high count - 35 [14]
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Rock Pigeon - high count - 2133 [790]
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Eurasian Collared-Dove - surprising decrease, either a true decrease or us missing their current feeding ground? - 402, first count under 1000 in the past three years
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Mourning Dove - 0, after 42 last year!
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Ring-billed Gull - 0, after 77 last year!
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Bald Eagle - high count - 22 [16]
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Eastern Screech-Owl - high count - 22 [2]
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Merlin - high count - 4 [3]
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Brown Creeper - tied for high count - 8
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European Starling - high count - 1806 [982]
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Red Crossbill - new for count - 1
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American Goldfinch - high count - 304 [150]
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Clay-colored Sparrow - new for count - 2
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Rusty Blackbird - noteworthy, but not high count - 12
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Yellow-rumped Warbler - high count, includes one Audubon’s Warbler in Kearney County - 50 [17]
Thanks again to all who volunteered for the count!
