Nebraska Ornithologists' Union
Date of this Version
6-2024
Document Type
Article
Citation
Nebraska Bird Review, volume 92, number 2, June 2024, pp. 78–88
Abstract
Nebraska once boasted that it had the greatest avian biodiversity of any state. Today, such a claim seems preposterous, but when it was made, back in 1899, it was serious. The antecedents of that claim underlie the objective of this article, namely to describe the early history of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union (NOU), its founding members, and its publications, one of which, the Nebraska Bird Review, you are reading today.
. . .
To say that many changes have occurred in ornithology and birding since the NOU started in 1899 would be a severe understatement. Most of these changes have involved communication. Local bird clubs started in the 19th century just because it was fun to meet with other “bird people.” One couldn’t pick up the phone and arrange a bird walk, so these meetings were pre-arranged, rain-or-shine affairs. When telephones became commonplace, birders set up “phone trees” to keep each other informed of significant sightings. Birding “hot lines” were the next step, followed by email and other computer/internet-based methods of mass communication. eBird has driven birding into another dimension of information dissemination. In this world of rapid information-sharing, is there a future for old (and old-fashioned?) groups such as the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union?
I think there is. One reason favoring NOU’s future is the same one that drove the formation of the early bird clubs: there is no good substitute for meeting face to face with others who share one’s interests in birds and in standing shoulder to shoulder with them while finding birds. Many long-term friendships have developed during NOU field trips. NOU members enjoy seeing their friends from throughout the state at the spring and fall meetings, as much as they enjoy seeing the birds themselves. These enduring relationships keep the NOU going now, as they have kept it going for these 125 often challenging years. Another reason for optimism regarding the NOU’s future is a wide-spread attitude that the Nebraska Bird Review has an important role to play in documenting observations of birds in the middle of our continent. Although observations here may not seem significant enough to merit publication in one of the national or international journals, they are important to the region and must be archived for ready access to scientists who want to understand patterns in avian biogeography.
Included in
Ornithology Commons, Population Biology Commons, Poultry or Avian Science Commons, Zoology Commons
Comments
Published by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc.