Date: 9/7/26 5:38 pm From: Don and Shirley Maas via groups.io <snowbirds2012...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Valley County
Thanks for the report Robin
Don Maas
Mesa, AZ
Maricopa County
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> On Sep 7, 2026 at 4:06 PM, <Robin Harding via groups.io (mailto:<pine2siskin4...>)> wrote:
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> Nebraska birders,
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> On September 07, Bill Flack and I visited Rita Cunha in Ord. She has been seeing a couple Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at her feeders. The birds didn't disappoint us, giving us a good show. As usual, they spent more time chasing each other around the yard than drinking from the feeders.
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> Rita took us to a place near Ord where she had seen a pair of Barn Owls with young. When we arrived, we saw one of the adults standing in the opening of a hole in a tall dirt bank. Soon, a young owl came into view beside the adult. It was very cool!
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> Our next destination was a Prairie Dog town about two miles down a very minimum maintenance road. There were a few spots along the "road" that we weren't sure if we could get through. Bill managed it very well. We watched the dog town for forty minutes. Bill spotted a Say's Phoebe and got his scope on it so that Rita and I could also see it. Unfortunately, we didn't see a Burrowing Owl.
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> Rita has received permission to enter the area with Ord's sewage lagoons. We drove slowly around the ponds. We saw three Ruddy Ducks, a Northern Pintail and a female Ring-necked Duck. There was also a Wilson's Snipe that let us get very close before it flew. There were several Spotted Sandpipers and a Forster's Tern. We heard a Marsh Wren and saw a Dickcissel.
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> We walked some of the trail at Anderson Island but the mosquitos were thick and thirsty. We didn't stay too long.
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> It was a very nice morning to bird with friends. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Barn Owl and Say's Phoebe were new Valley County birds for Bill. The hummingbird and owl were new county birds for me. I don't have all of my historic lists entered into ebird but the Barn Owl is number 400 on my North America life list.
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> I hope to see you next weekend in Kearney at the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union meeting/birding event.
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> Robin Harding
> Shelton, Nebr.
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