Date: 5/7/26 8:49 am From: Tobin Brown via groups.io <tobinjbrown...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Otoe county birding
This is great, congrats!
I'm actually considering going to Nebraska City this weekend to look for
warblers and build my county list. Are the Arbor Day lodge trails open to
the public? I see one place is like a hotel, just want to make sure I don't
accidentally trespass.
On Thu, May 7, 2026 at 10:17 AM Ruth Stearns via groups.io <ruthstearns=
<yahoo.com...> wrote:
> After finally getting 125 birds in Richardson County, I thought bringing
> Otoe County numbers up was an obvious next choice, as it was closer to
> home. I'd birded bit in the county in early April, and got a few new
> birds, so yesterday morning early I headed out with 91 species on my
> list. What had drawn me to get on this now was that eBird was giving me
> alerts with lots of species that shouldn't be hard to find at all in May.
> A big thank you to all the Otoe county birders, your lists helped get me
> out the door and the information I needed to draw up a game plan.for the
> day.
>
> I first headed to Arbor Lodge, to walk the conservation trail all around
> the entire park. It was I think a 2 maybe 3 mile round trip, and got lots
> of woodland birds I needed...the best being the Blue-headed Vireo on the
> southwest side of the trail, and delighted to find a Clay-colored Sparrow
> up on a north part of the trail near the apple orchards. Not too much in
> the way of warblers, but did have Yellow-rumps, Nashville's, Tennessee,
> Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned and an FOY Northern Parula. I texted
> Mike, that I was now at 104 species, and headed east a bit.
>
> I tried to figure out how to bird the North Table Creek Trail but decided
> my feet needed a rest, and instead headed to the Lewis and Clark Center,
> where a Broad-winged Hawk flew overhead and a Wood Thrush was making it's
> snappy call just down the trail. Now up to 109! Time to change the
> habitat.
>
> I'd enjoyed wandering around various gravel roads north of Syracuse and
> Dunbar the month before, and essentially repeated all those stops. One
> favorite stop was a lovely property on G Road northwest of Dunbar, where
> their road deadends at a bridge out location. The pond had some
> shorebirds, including Hudsonian Godwits, and oh my, heard the Bobolinks! A
> little grove along the way netted a singing Bell's Vireo and some Northern
> Bobwhite calling. I texted Mike, 118!
>
> Now headed to Syracuse, and up to the ponds along F road just west of Hwy
> 50, my favorite being just beyond 28th road, where I had several more
> shorebirds, including the Hudsonians and Long-billed Dowitchers and
> Wilson's Phalaropes twirling around. Best of all it was along a quiet (and
> dry) minimum maintenance road so the peace and quiet was wonderful. Text
> to Mike 125!!! And I had two more stops to go. Up 28th road to a pond on
> the east side of the road with lots of swallows, and oh my, Black Terns!
> Now I was at 127. One stop to go.
>
> I'd read that there was a Western Kingbird at the WTP in Syracuse, so I
> decided to give that place a try. Yes! Right away had both an Eastern and
> a Western Kingbird at the main pond, sitting on the wire, and there were
> also loads of swallows in the warm afternoon sun. The Purple Martins were
> my last new bird for the county....I ended the day with 130 species
> including 11 FOY's for Nebraska.
>
> A big thank you to all the birders who posted their birds to eBird, which
> ultimately helped give me a road map for the day. Mike wasn't sure I'd hit
> 125, and I agreed that getting 34 county birds was going to be a challenge,
> but I ended up with 39 after about 8 hours of birding around the county.
> Here's the trip report. https://ebird.org/tripreport/513198 So
> woodland walking, and county road farm ponds and wetlands and roadside
> thickets, topped off with a sewage lagoon did the trick for the day!
>
> Ruthie Stearns
> Lincoln NE
>
>
>
