Date: 1/7/26 5:48 am From: Jason Thiele via groups.io <jasonthiele...> Subject: [NEBirds] Beaver Valley CBC
Good morning, Nebraska birders. Seven observers completed the Beaver Valley Christmas Bird Count on December 30. Many thanks to those who helped! The decision to postpone the count for a day proved to be a good one as we had the best weather conditions we've had on this count for a few years. Conditions were especially nice for owling, with virtually no wind before sunrise.
The Beaver Valley CBC circle lies mostly within northwestern Boone County near Petersburg, but it extends slightly into Wheeler and Antelope counties. It consists predominantly of Sandhills rangeland and row crop agriculture. There aren't really any big water bodies that attract a lot of waterfowl, but the Beaver Creek itself does provide a few birds. Here is the list for the day. We found 41 species, which is right around normal. Our biggest "misses" were Canada Goose, Trumpeter Swan (has been regular in recent years, but missed for the second year in a row), Northern Bobwhite, Rough-legged Hawk (rarely missed on this count), Hairy Woodpecker, Harris's Sparrow, and Song Sparrow (never abundant, but recorded with some frequency).
American Wigeon 1 - only the 2nd time reported on this count (other time was on 12/16/1988, count week for 1993-1994 count)
Mallard 781
Green-winged Teal 10
Ring-necked Pheasant 2
Greater Prairie-Chicken 48 - it was fun to see a small group of males "practicing" their breeding displays for spring on a known lek location
Wild Turkey 54
Rock Pigeon 26
Eurasian Collared-Dove 73
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
Bald Eagle 9
Red-tailed Hawk 26
Eastern Screech-Owl 3
Great Horned Owl 4
Belted Kingfisher 3 - new high count after being missed for several years in a row
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 9
Northern Flicker 32 - new high count
American Kestrel 3
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1 - only the 2nd time reported on this count (other time was on 12/22/1987)
Northern Shrike 2
Blue Jay 9
American Crow 48
Black-capped Chickadee 2 - continues to be a tough bird to find, although this may be the first time since I started running the count that we had recorded BCCH before lunch
Horned Lark 22
White-breasted Nuthatch 9
European Starling 554
Eastern Bluebird 11 - 3rd consecutive year
American Robin 802 - 2nd highest count, although this was probably a gross underestimate based on the flocks our group observed
Cedar Waxwing 63 - 3rd-highest count
House Sparrow 68
House Finch 23
American Goldfinch 54
American Tree Sparrow 391
Dark-eyed Junco 101
Meadowlark sp. 14
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Northern Cardinal 6
