Date: 2/16/26 6:48 am From: Tobin Brown via groups.io <tobinjbrown...> Subject: [NEBirds] Big Day without a Blue Jay
Nebraska Birders,
On Saturday night, I headed west to Lake Ogallala with the plan of looking for gulls on Sunday. I camped overnight, where it got down to about 30 degrees, and got up before dawn to look for gulls. On my way to the Kingsley Dam Outlet, I heard my first bird of the day, Great Horned Owl.
The gulls were absolutely swarming, even before sunrise! In fact, most activity was before or just after sunrise. I lucked out and got a brief view of the continuing Short-billed Gull, but the star of the show was a first cycle Glaucous Gull <https://media.ebird.org/asset/651025604>. It was fun to observe it being the "bully" of the flock, chasing every nearby gull that got ahold of a fish. I continued picking through the flock, and after adding Lesser Black-backed, California, and Iceland Gull, I had a list of 7 gull species!
I then drove around to the other side of the lake to scan through the flocks of waterfowl. Along the canal I added some passerines, including multiple Townsend's Solitaires. After picking through the ducks, which included a pair of Greater Scaup, my day list was nearing 50, and it was only 10am!
At this point, I started thinking maybe I should turn it into a big day. I pulled up the latest issue of the Burrowing Owl, and saw that the record was 79 species. A difficult number, but perhaps doable with the good start that I had. I texted Boni and Eugene who were both out birding, and graciously started scouting out some areas on my route back east.
At Sutherland Reservoir I added Cormorants, White-crowned, and Harris's Sparrows, and White-breasted Nuthatch. On my way to North Platte, I added Sandhill Cranes as a group of 58 kettled overhead. Boni sent me to a spot in North Platte where I was able to coax out a Marsh Wren and hear a Virginia Rail, 2 very good additions to the day list! Then in North Platte itself, I picked up Northern Shoveler, Great-tailed Grackle, and my last expected goose, Greater White-fronted. I checked a spot that typically has good blackbird flocks, but didn't find even a starling.
Then I headed towards Elm Creek to meet up with Eugene in Dawson county. We got incredibly lucky in that area, finding a Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon, and 8 Greater Prairie Chickens! On our way to Ravenna, Eugene spotted a Northern Shrike far away on a power line which was a great pickup for the day.
In Ravenna, the wind had picked up, but we hiked the hike/bike trail looking for a Spotted Towhee that had been seen previously. We struck out with the Towhee, but added a few species to the day list: Brown Creeper, Black-capped Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing, and Red-headed Woodpecker.
On the drive back to Rowe Sanctuary, we kept our eyes peeled for a Merlin, one of the last raptors I needed, but no luck. At Rowe we were treated to a spectacle of Northern Harriers, we counted 12 harriers in one field near sunset! The record-tying bird for the day was the Short-eared Owl <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/651047406>. A group of 3 came out to play about 10 minutes before sunset in the meadows. It was so cool to see these birds 2 nights in a row.
As the sun set on the day, I had just a couple more birds to try for. With Eugene's guidance, we were able to hear a pair of Eastern Screech-Owls near Kearney, and then I headed back east. In Lincoln, I tried one of my typical spots for one last bird, Barred Owl, but they were unfortunately silent, so the day list stopped at 80.
February is typically one of the most underbirded months it seems, so I really enjoyed getting out to see some new places, especially in the unseasonably warm weather we had. And I would encourage others to do the same. Setting silly goals also forced me to look for common birds like Chickadees and Blue Jays (I had no idea how difficult they were to find in Central Nebraska). I'm sure I'll do a proper May Big Day eventually, but this was fun too!
Over the course of the day, I added 15 county birds to my lists, for the following totals. Keith: 194 (1) Lincoln: 145 (3) Dawson: 51 (2) Buffalo: 115 (6) Kearney: 31 (3)
