Nebraska Big Year: January Recap

February 01, 2025

As some of you may know, I'm giving a Nebraska state Big Year a crack this year. What does this mean you ask? It means I'm committing to driving thousands of miles, spending hundreds of hours, doing my absolute best to see as many species of birds in the state of Nebraska in one calendar year. It will be a long and tiring year, punctuated by exciting chases and bitter disappointements, but I am committed and ready to give it all I have. The current Big Year record is 347, set in 2013 by Paul Dunbar. This record is incredible, absolutely blowing the previous record of 331 out of the water. Nebraska on average gets about 370 species of birds either breeding or passing through each year, and in 2025 I'm setting out with a goal to see 350 of them. I'll be blogging as best I can on here, and at least doing monthly updates.

Year birds: +118 (118), State birds: +3 (328), Life birds: +3 (497)

January 1

It was a cold winter morning in North Platte, and I woke up early at 5am to get my first bird of the year. I hopped in the car, and drove from my hotel to some canyons 30 miles to the southeast. Shortly after arriving at the spot (which I had scoped out on Dec 31st), I heard my target bird, a Northern Saw-whet Owl! Right after hearing it, it buzzed right over my head, and I got just a glimpse of it as it passed through my car headlights and deep into the woods. A pretty good bird to start off the year!

From there, I hit the road, aiming to be at Lake Ogallala by sunrise where a buffet of waterfowl was awaiting me. Shortly after arriving I found 4 of my key targets, all continuing birds: Long-tailed Duck, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, and Surf Scoter. All 4 of those birds are huge to get so early in the year, especially all at the same location, and will save me hours and hours of searching in the fall. After that, I settled in to find the big target. Boni and Colleen arrived shortly after and we began scoping. The rafts of waterfowl were huge, at least a few thousand, but after 15 minutes or so, we got onto it, my first lifer of the year: Eurasian Wigeon!

Crazy enough as it seems, from there I headed BACK to North Platte for 2 more rarities because Big Years are all about getting the rarest birds first. The bird I had just gotten as a lifer a few weeks prior showed off it's brilliant yellow to me again in the new year: Couch's Kingbird, a continuing first state record! HUGE thanks to the Nelsons for being such gracious hosts. One last big target was waiting for me at the North Platte WTP, and moments after spotting the Barrow's Goldeneye, I headed west.

I finished January 1st with 78 species, and 8 rare targets, and 1 lifer! I was off to the races.

Couch's Kingbird

January 2

I woke up again before dawn to drive from Gering to Harrison to participate in a Christmas Bird Count. I was in charge of Pants Butte and Sowbelly Roads, 2 excellent birding areas. Early in the morning, at the intersection of Pants Butte and Sowbelly, I had my 2nd life bird of the year: Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch! GCRF was one of my main targets, and I got pretty good views of a relatively large flock before they disappeared into the hills.

A few more excellent pickups for the day were Common Raven, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Black-billed Magpie, and Golden Eagle, all western specialties that I was very pleased to get so early. After meeting up around lunch to tally our CBC results, I took the scenic route down Henry Road, checking again for rosy-finches, but not coming up with much except Rough-legged Hawks.

January 3

This was the day I planned to see Pinyon Jays, but it didn't start out as planned. A thin blanket of snow covered the ground in Gering as I set out for the day, but after a couple hundred yards of driving, I realized I had a flat tire (probably from driving 40 miles of gravelt the day before). I attempted to put the spare on, but my tiny wimpy car jack wouldn't do. Thanks to the Gering police department I was finally able to get the spare on and hit the road again. (Yes, I did buy a new jack immediately after getting home)

60 miles later on a spare tire, I pulled up to the traditional Pinyon Jay feeders, and for nearly 90 minutes all I saw were the usual species. I was beginning to lose hope, when finally I noticed the undulating flight pattern of a group of birds coming in from the west. After inspecting the feeders for a minute or so, my year's first Pinyon Jays overwhelmed the feeders! 3 days in and 3 life birds.

I spent the next 2 hours killing time in a coffee shop while my tire was repaired in Bridgeport. Not the best way to spend prime birding time during a time-crunched Big Year, but I had already driven 30 miles more than I should have on the spare.

I was able to salvage the rest of the day at Lake Minitaire, Buffalo Creek WMA and Wildcat Hills, notching another 3 western specialty year birds: Rock Wren (early or overwintering), Townsend's Solitaire, and Pygmy Nuthatch.

Buffalo Creek WMA

January 4

Like the evening before, I camped out at the feeders at Wildcat Hills, hoping to glimpse a Cassin's Finch. After 90 minutes, and with the weather projected to get worse, I decided to call it and begin the long drive home.

I stopped off in Kearney to look for the Brant that was seen a few days before, but had no luck. I continued home in the freezing rain with a repsectable 93 species in 4 days.

Wildcat Hills

January 5-31

The rest of the month I spent in the east, knocking out a few more key targets. Snow Bunting in Platte, Tundra Swan in Douglas, and Purple Finch and Hermit Thrush in Lancaster were the most notable birds.

eBird Trip Report

  1. Northern Saw-whet Owl, Lincoln
  2. Northern Cardinal, Keith
  3. Song Sparrow, Keith
  4. Dark-eyed Junco, Keith
  5. Cedar Waxwing, Keith
  6. American Robin, Keith
  7. European Starling, Keith
  8. Winter Wren, Keith
  9. White-breasted Nuthatch, Keith
  10. American Crow, Keith
  11. Blue Jay, Keith
  12. Northern Flicker, Keith
  13. Hairy Woodpecker, Keith
  14. Red-bellied Woodpecker, Keith
  15. Eastern Screech-Owl, Keith
  16. Red-tailed Hawk, Keith
  17. Bald Eagle, Keith
  18. Great Blue Heron, Keith
  19. Eared Grebe, Keith
  20. Pied-billed Grebe, Keith
  21. Iceland Gull, Keith
  22. Lesser Black-backed Gull, Keith
  23. American Herring Gull, Keith
  24. Ring-billed Gull, Keith
  25. Bonaparte's Gull, Keith
  26. American Coot, Keith
  27. Eurasian Collared-Dove, Keith
  28. Ruddy Duck, Keith
  29. Common Merganser, Keith
  30. Common Goldeneye, Keith
  31. Bufflehead, Keith
  32. Long-tailed Duck, Keith
  33. Black Scoter, Keith
  34. White-winged Scoter, Keith
  35. Surf Scoter, Keith
  36. Lesser Scaup, Keith
  37. Greater Scaup, Keith
  38. Redhead, Keith
  39. Canvasback, Keith
  40. Green-winged Teal, Keith
  41. Mallard, Keith
  42. American Wigeon, Keith
  43. Eurasian Wigeon, Keith
  44. Gadwall, Keith
  45. Canada Goose, Keith
  46. Cackling Goose, Keith
  47. American Goldfinch, Keith
  48. American Kestrel, Keith
  49. California Gull, Keith
  50. House Sparrow, Keith
  51. Ross's Goose, Keith
  52. Snow Goose, Keith
  53. Rock Pigeon, Keith
  54. Western Meadowlark, Keith
  55. Northern Harrier, Keith
  56. American Tree Sparrow, Lincoln
  57. House Finch, Lincoln
  58. Red-breasted Nuthatch, Lincoln
  59. Couch's Kingbird, Lincoln
  60. Downy Woodpecker, Lincoln
  61. Great-tailed Grackle, Lincoln
  62. Barrow's Goldeneye, Lincoln
  63. Ring-necked Duck, Lincoln
  64. Northern Pintail, Lincoln
  65. Northern Shoveler, Lincoln
  66. Greater White-fronted Goose, Lincoln
  67. Horned Lark, Keith
  68. Wild Turkey, Garden
  69. Red-winged Blackbird, Garden
  70. Ferruginous Hawk, Garden
  71. Sharp-shinned Hawk, Garden
  72. Northern Shrike, Morrill
  73. Prairie Falcon, Scotts Bluff
  74. Ring-necked Pheasant, Scotts Bluff
  75. Cooper's Hawk, Scotts Bluff
  76. White-crowned Sparrow, Scotts Bluff
  77. Black-capped Chickadee, Scotts Bluff
  78. Great Horned Owl, Scotts Bluff
  79. Red Crossbill, Sioux
  80. Black-billed Magpie, Sioux
  81. Belted Kingfisher, Sioux
  82. Golden Eagle, Sioux
  83. Rough-legged Hawk, Sioux
  84. Merlin, Sioux
  85. Common Raven, Sioux
  86. Sharp-tailed Grouse, Sioux
  87. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Sioux
  88. Lapland Longspur, Sioux
  89. Pine Siskin, Morrill
  90. Pinyon Jay, Morrill
  91. Rock Wren, Scotts Bluff
  92. Townsend's Solitaire, Scotts Bluff
  93. Pygmy Nuthatch, Scotts Bluff
  94. Snow Bunting, Platte
  95. White-throated Sparrow, Lancaster
  96. Carolina Wren, Lancaster
  97. Brown Creeper, Lancaster
  98. Golden-crowned Kinglet, Lancaster
  99. Barred Owl, Lancaster
  100. Mourning Dove, Lancaster
  101. Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lancaster
  102. Eastern Bluebird, Lancaster
  103. Peregrine Falcon, Lancaster
  104. Trumpeter Swan, Sarpy
  105. Harris's Sparrow, Cass
  106. Tufted Titmouse, Cass
  107. Fox Sparrow, Sarpy
  108. Tundra Swan, Douglas
  109. Purple Finch, Lancaster
  110. Hermit Thrush, Lancaster
  111. Red-shouldered Hawk, Seward
  112. Red-headed Woodpecker, Sarpy
  113. Pileated Woodpecker, Sarpy
  114. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Lancaster
  115. Northern Bobwhite, Lancaster
  116. Hooded Merganser, Cass
  117. Sandhill Crane, Lancaster
  118. Brewer's Blackbird, Lancaster

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