Date: 5/13/26 5:13 pm From: Robin Harding via groups.io <pine2siskin4...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Birding Marathon
Nebraska birders,
Bill Flack and I continued our birding marathon in Thurston County on May
09. We started in Pender at the sewage ponds. We were able to see the
ponds from the top of the berm on the other side of the road. We saw
seventeen species including 12 Hudsonian Godwits, a few Black Terns, Bank
Swallows and I saw one Yellow-headed Blackbird fly by. New county birds
for me were the Godwits, Wilson's Phalaropes, Black Terns, Northern
Rough-winged Swallows, Western Meadowlark and Yellow-headed Blackbird.
That's where a bird pooped on my phone. The previous day, in Burt County,
we saw more Godwits but were unable to identify them to species.
We walked the edge of the Thurston sewage ponds and around the tree dump.
We saw 25 species including some shorebirds and sparrows. Bill spotted a
Green Heron that was standing at the edge of a pond beside some tall
plants. It was hard to see clearly even with a scope but we could not see
its head. It wasn't moving at all. Maybe it was sleeping. New county
birds for me were Blue-winged Teal, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs,
Least Sandpiper, Chipping Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, and Harris's Sparrow.
We birded a couple of Omaha Creek bridges near the intersection of county
roads 26 and G. We found a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Black and White
Warbler, a Swainson's Thrush and a nice variety of the usual species. New
county birds for me were Swainson's Thrush, Song Sparrow, and Black and
White Warbler. Sometimes those county road creek crossings have some great
birds.
Our next stop was at the Winnebago sewage lagoons. We walked all the way
around them, which was tiresome because of the steep slope. We found 37
species including twelve species of shorebirds. Among the shorebirds was a
Semipalmated Plover, three Hudsonian Godwits, and both yellowlegs. It was
nice to see such a variety. I still get confused sometimes but it was good
to compare them side by side. It gives me a little more confidence. A few
Franklin's Gulls and Black Terns flew over while we were there. I heard a
Least Flycatcher but could not see it, although seeing it may not have
helped. New county birds for me were American Coot, Semipalmated Plover,
Greater Yellowlegs, Baird's Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral
Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Bald Eagle, Least Flycatcher, Eastern
Kingbird, and Savannah Sparrow. The Eastern Kingbird was a new 93 county
bird for me. I'm up to lucky number thirteen species seen in all 93
counties.
Mid afternoon, we walked almost a mile at Big Bear Park, an easier walk
since it was all on level ground. We found 25 species including a couple
more Swainson's Thrushes, an Orchard Oriole and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We
saw a nice variety of sparrows as well. New county birds for me were
Lincoln's Sparrow, and Orchard Oriole.
Bill's new county birds for the day were Semipalmated Plover, Hudsonian
Godwit, Baird's Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper,
Greater Yellowlegs, Swainson's Thrush, Clay-colored Sparrow and Black and
White Warbler. His new total for the county is 153 species.
I suppose you can tell that I haven't been birding in Thurston County very
often. Bill, on the other hand, has birded in every Nebraska county many
times. My new total for Thurston County is 102.
Robin Harding
Shelton, Nebraska
On Wed, May 13, 2026 at 6:24 PM William Flack via groups.io <sparvophile=
<yahoo.com...> wrote:
> Fellow NEBirders—
>
> On May 8, Day 2 of Robin's and my expedition to northeastern Nebraska, we
> worked Burt County.
> Rather tuckered out by the previous day's birding, we got off to a
> somewhat late start from West Point. We began our birding in the park at
> the western edge of Oakland. There was a track meet going on in the
> western portion of the park, so we didn't go that way; but the eastern
> part, including the small stream that runs in near the southeastern corner,
> was quiet and productive. We found sparrows of six species (Chipping,
> Clay-colored, White-crowned, Harris's, White-throated, and Lincoln's) in
> considerable abundance; and saw a Black-and-white Warbler nuthatching its
> way along a branch.
>
> The prize there was a Louisiana Waterthrush working upstream along the
> edge of the creek. At that point, the creek runs between steep banks 3–6
> feet high, so although we had quite a lengthy look at the bird, it was all
> from above: we could clearly see the tail-wagging and the upperparts, but
> couldn't get great looks at the underparts. The supercilium didn't
> obviously narrow toward the rear, but neither did it obviously widen. The
> underparts had a whitish background, with no obvious yellowish tinge: such
> yellowish would've been diagnostic for Northern, but its absence doesn't
> rule Northern out. We couldn't see the throat, nor could we really assesss
> the density of the streaking on the underparts. Our identification was
> based on the leg color: bright pink, even when the bird was in deep shade,
> and almost luminous when hit by the sun. No vocalizations.
>
> The Black-and-white and the Louisiana were the only unusual warblers we
> found all day. We saw Common Yellowthroat, Northern Yellow, and
> Yellow-rumped in various places, but none of the less-common migrants that
> we'd expect at this time of year, and not even Orange-crowned. This was
> our experience throughout the trip: Orange-crowns on other days, but not in
> any kind of numbers, and almost nothing else beside those four most common
> species.
>
> After Oakland, we spent considerable time at Summit Lake. First, we
> parked in the lot by the gate just southwest of the archery range, and
> walked trails: along the boundary between woods and grassland, then on
> trails that wandered through the woods toward the marshy ponds. There was
> a decent variety of birds, including the Swainson's Thrush that I wanted
> for my Burt County list, but no surprises. We then continued driving on
> the park road to its end on the west side of the southern arm of the lake.
> In the small parking lot there, we heard repeated descending staccato
> "pit-a-tuck" calls from a deciduous tree, which I recognized from Arizona
> experience as Summer Tanager. With a little effort, we found the bird: all
> red, without a cardinal's black face or crest or red triangular bill, and
> with a wing only a little darker than the body plumage, quite unlike a
> Scarlet Tanager's black wing.
>
> It was mid-afternoon by this time, so we repaired to Tekamah for lunch at
> the Tipsy Pig. We then drove to the east side of the southern arm of the
> lake, crossed on the berm with no serious misadventures on the step-stones,
> and did a loop that took us up to the edge of the horse farm. We had a
> decent variety of birds, including seven sparrow species, but nothing
> surprising; and the only warbler was a single Northern Yellow.
>
> From Summit Lake, we betook ourselves to Pelican Point RA. Our experience
> there was similar to what we'd had at Summit: nice variety of sparrows, but
> only a single warbler, a Common Yellowthroat.
>
> There was plenty of daylight left when we finished there, and had we been
> younger and stronger and less worn-out, we'd have gone on to check out the
> park at Decatur. However, it'd been an enjoyable but a long day, and we
> had to make our way to Pender before we could rest. We started northwest,
> but had only got two or three miles when we saw what looked like two
> good-sized shorebirds flying to land in a plowed field. We quickly stopped
> and put the scopes on the birds which, fortunately, showed no inclination
> to fly off. They turned out to be two Pluvialis plovers; however, they
> were in mid-molt, which made identification challenging. There appeared to
> be some brown in the back and wings, which suggested American Golden-
> rather than Black-bellied Plover, but we couldn't be sure of that. There
> was still lots of white in the underparts, and in any case the birds
> weren't giving us good looks at the undertail coverts. Finally, I
> suppressed my conscience and marched out into the field in an intimidating
> fashion to flush the birds, which showed brown tails in flight: American
> Golden-Plovers.
>
> Eight of the birds we found were new for my Burt County list, bringing it
> to a total of 156 species: Northern Bobwhite, American Golden-Plover,
> Solitary Sandpiper, Swainson's Thrush, Clay-colored Sparrow, Louisiana
> Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, and Summer Tanager.
>
> Robin had only birded Burt County on two previous occasions, so her list
> of new birds was considerably longer than mine: [deep breath] American
> Wigeon, Northern Bobwhite, Chimney Swift, American Golden-Plover, Spotted
> Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Franklin's Gull, Black Tern, Osprey,
> Red-headed Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Warbling
> Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Cedar Waxwing, Carolina Wren,
> Northern House Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird,
> Swainson's Thrush, American Goldfinch, Clay-colored Sparrow, Field Sparrow,
> Harris's Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Louisiana
> Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Yellow
> Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Summer Tanager, and Rose-breasted
> Grosbeak. Her new total for the county was 102 species. Burt was the last
> county in which she hadn't seen American Goldfinch, making it her 12th
> 93-county bird.
>
> Tomorrow: Thurston County
>
> William Flack
> Kearney
>
>
>
>
