Nebraska Ornithologists' Union
Date of this Version
6-2014
Citation
Klaphake, "2014 NOU/IOU Joint Meeting in Bellevue," from Nebraska Bird Review (June 2014) 82(2).
Abstract
The May 16–18 combined meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union and the Iowa Ornithologists' Union at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center in Bellevue, Nebraska, was a gigantic success. Over 160 birders from Nebraska, Iowa, and 6 other states attended the 3 day event. Everyone I talked to, from novice to expert, was more than delighted with all of the activities scheduled for this event.
Our Friday evening speaker, Ty Smedes, had some wonderful photos, especially of warblers, and I heard nothing but positive comments about his program from the attendees. On Saturday afternoon Jerry Toll talked about his experiences banding Red-tailed Hawks at the Hitchcock Nature Center near Crescent, Iowa, and Rick Hollis spoke about the importance of eBird. Saturday evening, Dan Svingen gave us some extremely valuable information regarding the status of many of our Great Plains grassland birds and made everyone feel welcome to come and bird in our nation's national grasslands, especially in South and North Dakota.
What I think made most people happy were the answers to two of the most important questions to birders: Were there birds to see? And how was the weather? To the first question the answer is a resounding YES—181 species counted: that number included 29 warbler, 24 shorebird, 10 flycatcher and 6 vireo species. To the second question the answer is again a resounding YES (no rain, wind, or extremely high temperatures). Or as Goldilocks might have said, everything was “just right.”
Comments
Copyright 2014 Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union. Used by permission.