Date: 3/14/26 5:19 pm From: Robin Harding via groups.io <pine2siskin4...> Subject: [NEBirds] Rainwater Basin
Nebraska birders,
Steve Morris and I birded Clay and Hamilton Counties on Saturday, March 14. The weather left something to be desired. It was sunny, windy and cold. We started at Harvard WPA to look for Smith's Longspur. It didn't take too long for me to hear the rattle call of longspurs but I can't yet distinguish between Lapland and Smith's. Steve turned on the Merlin app and we walked more. After flushing several more birds, we got a decent look. The Merlin app also thought they were Smith's Longspurs. Other notable species were Blue-winged Teal and Yellow-headed Blackbird.
We drove around White Front WMA and found a couple Savannah Sparrows. We enjoyed some time at Massie WPA where we saw many ducks. We also saw a couple Lesser Yellowlegs and I heard an American Pipit fly over. Moger WPA also hosted many ducks (nine species). Not far from Moger, Steve spotted a small raptor flying. The bird perched atop a small tree so we were able to study it. We decided that it was an immature Merlin.
Our next stop was Smith WPA. As we reached the top of the hill on the south side, we saw an amazing number of Snow Geese. The flock was a couple hundred yards from front to back and a half mile wide. The geese appeared to be close to each other (a tightly packed flock). Neither of us are good at estimating large numbers but we guessed there were 10,000. We were able to see one Ross's Goose on the near edge of the flock. There were also eight species of ducks and one American White Pelican. We also birded at Hultine WPA and saw a couple hundred female Red-winged Blackbirds with only a few males.
The day warmed up but the wind continued to blow hard. We birded a few more wetlands but in mid to late afternoon we didn't see much.
