Spring Field Days and Annual Meeting at Central City

Authors

Date of this Version

6-2013

Citation

“Spring Field Days and Annual Meeting at Central City,” from Nebraska Bird Review (June 2013) 81(2).

Comments

Copyright 2013 Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union. Used by permission.

Abstract

The 114th Annual Meeting was held at the Covenant Cedars Bible Camp in Merrick County east of Central City on May 17–19, 2013. The 45+ members and friends in attendance found 163 species, including Eared Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Black-bellied and American Golden Plovers, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Ruddy Turnstone, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, White-winged Dove, Yellow-throated Vireo, Wood Thrush, 16 warbler species, and 12 sparrow species.

Field trips went to Lakes North and Babcock, Wilkinson WMA, Don Dworak WMA, Headworks Park, Palmer sewage lagoon, Loup River north of Palmer, Loup Junction WMA, North Loup SRA, Kirkpatrick Basin South WMA, Farmer's Valley Cemetery in southeast Hamilton Co., Harvard WPA, Deep Well WMA, and Dark Island Trail south of Central City. Field trip leaders were Dave Heidt, Robin Harding, Lanny Randolph, Don and Janis Paseka, and T.J. Walker.

On Friday evening Dr. Joe Gubanyi of Concordia University in Seward presented an identification workshop featuring species likely to be seen in central Nebraska in May. He discussed field marks which should help differentiate between pairs of species such as immature Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night Herons, White-faced and Glossy Ibis, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes, and Eastern and Spotted Towhees.

On Saturday evening, Lauren Dinan, a Nongame Bird Biologist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, presented a program entitled "Understanding Piping Plovers' Lives through Color Banding." This program provided an update to the ongoing Nebraska Game and Parks Piping Plover banding project along the Missouri and upper and lower Platte Rivers. The project seeks to answer questions relating to adult and juvenile survival, site fidelity and winter range and distribution.