Nebraska Big Year: May Recap
June 02, 2025
Year birds: +73 (322), State birds: +10 (344), Life birds: +3 (512)
May was an absolute marathon of birding. I knew it would be a lot going into it, but getting up every day before sunrise for nearly 3 weeks, hiking 2-4 miles, and then putting in a full day's work really got to me. Luckily, all of my hard work paid off and I got some really good birds, and put myself in a really good spot for the rest of the year!
Warbler Mania
When planning out my big year, I marked May 1-21 on my calendar as "WARBLER MANIA". The plan was to get out every morning in Wilderness Park (or elsewhere on the weekends) and bird for migrants. I knew getting as many migrant warblers as possible would be key to hitting my goals for the month.
On just the second day out in Wilderness Park, I hit pay dirt. I heard a high pitched buzzy song, and after some searching, finally got eyes on a male Blue-winged Warbler! Blue-winged is a very rare migrant for the state and it was a huge boost to my efforts and motivated me to keep going every morning.
Over the next couple weeks, I was able to find over 20 warbler species as well as a Phildelphia Vireo (299) here in Lancaster county! A few trips to Omaha's Fontenelle Forest and Towl park allowed me to rack up a grand total of 29 warbler species for the month!
One of my favorite moments was when Judson messaged me that he had a Bay-breasted Warbler (298) and a Mourning Warbler (297) in one section of Wilderness Park, while I was at Tierra Park. I decided to leave, and on the way out, I found a singing Canada Warbler (296)! I arrived at Wilderness, got both warblers, and then Judson headed to Tierra and got the Canada. Really fun to trade rare warblers with another birder.
Meetups
Throughout the month, I organized a few birding meetups. We met twice at Fontenelle Forest early in May, and once at Indian Cave State Park the second week of May. The trip to Indian Cave was especially productive. We were able to find all of the nightjars, as well as hear a rare and elusive Black-billed Cuckoo (290), which was a state bird for me! Other notable birds on the Indian Cave meetup included Blue-headed Vireo (291), which somehow eluded me for 2 weeks, and Kentucky Warbler (289).
Towhee (and detour)
Early in May, when it seemed like migration was going to happen on schedule (instead of early like last year), I decided to take a trip out west to try to track down the sneaky Green-tailed Towhee (274).
On my way out, I dipped down to Clay county in hopes of finding a Least Bittern, but instead found my first of year Upland Sandpiper (264) and Buff-breasted Sandpiper (265). On my way out through Hastings, I got a phone call from Mark Brogie, he told me they were looking at a Little Blue Heron. Naturally, I had to detour, so I rerouted from my western plans and headed up highway 2 to Halsey.
I got up at dawn and went to the little pond where the heron was seen. After about 20 minutes of waiting, I decided to check the river, and sure enough, the bird was roosting high in a tree above the river! As I watched, it flew over and landed in the small pond about 50 yards away. I spent nearly 40 minutes enjoying my new state bird, and year bird #266 before continuing west for the Towhee.
I spent the next 2 days birding in the morning and working from the Wildcat Hills Nature Center. On my second day there (and still no Towhee), I got a text from Stephen Brenner that he had a Green-tailed Towhee at Oliver reservoir, so I hopped in the car and headed there. When I told him it would be a lifer, he turned around and met me there to help! After 30 minutes of searching, and flushing the bird multiple times, I was finally able to get a passable photo of this life bird, and year bird #274!
NOU Meeting
The bi-annual NOU meetings always seem to stir up rarities, and this year didn't disappoint! I left Lincoln early on friday morning to bird the counties on the way to the meeting with Dan, Keegan, and Paul. We birded our way through Washington and Burt counties, where I picked up a Magnolia Warbler as year bird #300!
We ended up in Thurston county at the Winnebago WTP (which would become a really good hotspot for the weekend) when Keegan got an alert that there was a Neotropic Cormorant (301) at Kramper Lake. We immediately hopped in the car and set off. It didn't take long after we arrived to find the Cormorant, which was a state bird!
Perhaps even more interesting, on the way there, Dan and I saw a Lark Bunting, the first record for Thurston County! We hypothesize that sustained winds from the west drove this bird east. Eastern Iowa also had a record a couple days later, and other western birds also began showing up in the east, really interesting pattern!
Out West
After the NOU meeting, Caleb and Thane headed west and they stirred up some rarities: Worm-eating Warbler, and Pine Warbler. Having seen most of my eastern targets, I decided to give it a shot. I left early in the morning on the 20th to search. Despite efforts put in by myself and the UNK big day crew, we couldn't find either bird.
I decided to salvage something out of the trip anyway, and spent the next 4 days birding in the Gering and Kimball area. In Gering I was able to pick up Black-chinned Hummingbird (311) and Broad-tailed Hummingbird (315) as well as plenty of other western breeding birds.
In a couple trips to Oliver Reservoir I got my best ever looks at Western Tanager, as well as a couple of other Western year birds. I found a very late (and very rare for Kimball), Western Sandpiper (316) in a small mixed flock of shorebirds, as well as a bright Western Flycatcher (317).
On Saturday, I drove back through the rain but was still able to pick up my year Black-crowned Night-Heron (319) near Lakeside. Despite the rain, I attempted to bird through Crescent Lake NWR. I saw plenty of birds, but there weren't many shorebirds to be found, and the roads were getting treacherous in the pouring rain, so I continued on home.
Nemesis
Near the end of the month, and warbler mania, there was still one regular eastern warbler I just had not run into. I sent out the bat signal, asking local birders to let me know if they saw any. Of course, dozens showed up in the 4 days I decided to go out west, but on my way back, I got a text from Paul Dunbar.
I drove straight to Hastings from Crescent Lake, pulled up to the school, and he was there with a scope on the a female Blackburnian Warbler (320)! Not only did I get the bird, we found 2, a pretty rare bird for Adams county! It was fitting that the current Big Year record holder was the one to help me out with my last warbler.
One last bird
Having exhausted nearly all my targets, I went out on the afternoon of the 30th looking for terns, hoping for a Common, or even a longshot at an Arctic. I had 7 spots on a 65-mile route around Lincoln scoped out. My first stop was Capitol Beach Lake, and low and behold, I saw one tern on the whole lake, and it turned out to be my Common Tern (322)! After countless hours searching for other rare birds throughout the month, it felt good to get one quickly to wrap up the month.
I ended with a month total of 257 species, smashing my tally last year of 228, and with my year total at 322, I'm in a really good spot for the rest of the year!
Shoutouts this month to Paul, Pro, Keegan, Stephen, Olivia, Rita, Tommy, Eugene, Cody, Lauren, Dan, Caleb, Mark, Judson, Eli, Kojo, Colleen, Shari & Jon, and everyone else that helped me out or birded with me this month!
- Nashville Warbler, Lancaster
- Yellow-throated Vireo, Lancaster
- Sedge Wren, Lancaster
- Black Tern, Lancaster
- Blue-winged Warbler, Lancaster
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Sarpy
- Orchard Oriole, Sarpy
- American Redstart, Sarpy
- Gray-cheeked Thrush, Sarpy
- Scarlet Tanager, Sarpy
- Ovenbird, Sarpy
- Black-throated Green Warbler, Sarpy
- Eastern Wood-Pewee, Sarpy
- Short-billed Dowitcher, Lancaster
- Bell's Vireo, Lancaster
- Golden-winged Warbler, Lancaster
- Upland Sandpiper, Clay
- Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Clay
- Little Blue Heron, Thomas
- American Bittern, Grant
- Red-necked Phalarope, Sheridan
- Lark Bunting, Box Butte
- Yellow-breasted Chat, Scotts Bluff
- White-throated Swift, Scotts Bluff
- Common Poorwill, Scotts Bluff
- Black-headed Grosbeak, Scotts Bluff
- Green-tailed Towhee, Kimball
- Blackpoll Warbler, Lancaster
- Dickcissel, Lancaster
- Bobolink, Lancaster
- Ruddy Turnstone, Platte
- Sanderling, Platte
- Cape May Warbler, Douglas
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cass
- Acadian Flycatcher, Sarpy
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Sarpy
- Chestnut-sided Warbler, Sarpy
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Pawnee
- Common Nighthawk, Nemaha
- Eastern Whip-poor-will, Nemaha
- Chuck-will's-widow, Nemaha
- Kentucky Warbler, Richardson
- Black-billed Cuckoo, Richardson
- Blue-headed Vireo, Richardson
- American Barn Owl, Lancaster
- Blue Grosbeak, Lancaster
- Olive-sided Flycatcher, Lancaster
- Alder Flycatcher, Lancaster
- Canada Warbler, Lancaster
- Mourning Warbler, Lancaster
- Bay-breasted Warbler, Lancaster
- Philadelphia Vireo, Lancaster
- Magnolia Warbler, Burt
- Neotropic Cormorant, Dakota
- Wilson's Warbler, Dakota
- Willow Flycatcher, Dakota
- Least Tern, Dixon
- Veery, Dixon
- Connecticut Warbler, Lancaster
- Western Wood-Pewee, Scotts Bluff
- Bullock's Oriole, Scotts Bluff
- Western Tanager, Scotts Bluff
- Cassin's Kingbird, Kimball
- Black-chinned Hummingbird, Scotts Bluff
- Mississippi Kite, Scotts Bluff
- Lazuli Bunting, Scotts Bluff
- Plumbeous Vireo, Kimball
- Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Scotts Bluff
- Western Sandpiper, Kimball
- Western Flycatcher, Kimball
- Brewer's Sparrow, Sioux
- Black-crowned Night Heron, Sheridan
- Blackburnian Warbler, Adams
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Douglas
- Common Tern, Lancaster
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