Annual Meeting at Scottsbluff

Authors

Date of this Version

6-2008

Document Type

Article

Citation

“Annual Meeting at Scottsbluff” from Nebraska Bird Review (June 2008) 76(2).

Comments

Copyright 2008 Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union. Used by permission.

Abstract

The 109th Annual Meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union was held in Scottsbluff on May 16-18, 2008. Gatherings and meals took place at the Jane Fliesbach Retreat Center at the Trails West YMCA Camp on the North Platte River at the base of Scotts Bluff National Monument. The meeting was hosted by members of Wildcat Audubon, who arranged the speakers, field trips, lodging, meeting facility, and meals.

Field trips were led by Alice Kenitz, Helen Hughson, Kathy DeLara, and Wayne Mollhoff to Wildcat Hills SRA, Kiowa WMA, Winters Creek Lake, Lake Minatare, Chilibaba Pond in Scotts Bluff Co., and various sites in Kimball and Sioux Counties. One of the most popular trips was led by Wayne Mollhoff to a location south of Kimball where Larry Snyder of the Nebraska Prairie Partners pointed out nesting Mountain Plovers.

Our Friday night speaker was Drew Larsen of Pheasants Forever, who described his organization's efforts to preserve and improve habitat for pheasants and other prairie birds. Saturday night Bart Bly and Larry Snyder of the Nebraska Prairie Partners, a cooperative project between the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, described their efforts in working with landowners, leaseholders, and land managers to conserve shortgrass prairie birds and their habitats. They talked about their surveys and nest monitoring of Northern Saw-whet Owls, Mountain Plovers, Ferruginous Hawks, and Swainson's Hawks.