Nebraska Big Year: June Recap
July 01, 2025
Year birds: +6 (328)
State birds: +3 (347)
Life birds: +0 (511)
eBird Trip Report
May was a marathon and June was a slog. Breeding season is in full swing and with it, the heat, and new birds were few and far between.
Pawnee Prairies
One of my first targets of the month was Henslow's Sparrow, so on June 1st, I met Keegan at Burchard WMA in Pawnee county, which is historically a great spot for the species. We looked there for over 2 hours, finding many Grasshopper Sparrows, Bobolink, and other grassland birds, but not our target. Having no luck there, I decided to give Pawnee Prairie WMA a try, and sure enough, within 15 minutes we had singing Henslow's Sparrows (323)! They were a little too far away to get good photos, but I did bring along some good recording equipment and got a great recording of one singing.
Bittern
That same week, there was a report of a Least Bittern in Omaha. I was skeptical at first, thinking it might just be a migrant. But after it was spotted again and heard displaying, I went right away. On the monring of June 6th, I left Lincoln before dawn to arrive at Flanagan Lake around sunrise. We tromped through the wet grasses on the overgrown fishing jetties to the location where the bird was last seen, and after a little bit of effort (to hear over all of the blackbirds), we heard the distinctive grunt display of the Least Bittern (324). This was a new state bird for me as well, having only seen it once in Mexico.
Crescent Lake BBS
June is the month of Breeding Bird Surveys, and this year, I decided to take on my first. I was assigned the Crescent Lake Route, that starts in Crescent Lake NWR, goes south through the sandhills, and then into a little bit of farmland. As I was driving all that way, I decided to make a long weekend trip of it.
On my way out, I detoured south into Chase county to look for Cassin's Sparrows. Dr. Cooper had found some just a few days earlier near Enders Reservoir. While I was looking, I ran into Eugene, and he said he'd had one just up the road. Sure enough, I pulled up the road, and I got great views of a pair of Cassin's Sparrows (325) singing and collecting food, likely for young in a nearby nest!
The BBS route itself was great, the first few stops were absolutely packed with birds. Nothing new for the year, but I got a few new county birds, and a few audio lifers as I stopped briefly after my point counts to take recordings. The highlights of the day included a pair of Black-necked Stilts at the first stop, displaying and flying American Bitterns around stop 10, and a Long-tailed Weasel in the sandhills!
After completing the route, I birded my way through Garden county north towards Fort Robinson State Park (where I ran into Eugene again) to stay the night before birding in the pine ridge the next day. To make a long day even longer, I decided to attend the local playhouse's production of "Newsies" at the Post Playhouse, which was quite good!
The next mornning, I got up early and started birding the Soldier Creek area northwest of the state park, hoping for any sort of rare pine ridge bird. About an hour in, I got a text from Eugene who was also birding in the area over at Henry Road. He had some really good birds, so I hopped back in the car and headed that way.
I searched for over 2 hours, but was unfortunately unable to relocate the amazing Black-throated Sparrow that Eugene had found. I did, however, get great looks at the Sage Thrashers (326)! The pair was hanging out (likely breeding) on the Wyoming side of the road, but ocassionally flew across to the Nebraska side, or on the road itself, so I was able to count it. This was also a new state bird for me, and one I was specifically targeting for this year. As of writing, it seems they are having a sort of "irruption" year, there have been reports at 4 different locations in the past 2 weeks, 3 juveniles, and a singing bird at Montz Point WMA.
A trip out west wouldn't be complete without a visit to Scotts Bluff, so I headed that way in the afternoon, stopping at Flyover Brewing Company for my favorite wood-fired pizza (it's seriously so good) before heading to Wildcat Hills. At Wildcat, I picked up perhaps my last "easy" target for the year Lesser Goldfinch (327), and also got great looks at the Rocky Mountain subspecies Hairy Woodpecker that has been hanging around. Both species of Hummingbird also made an appearance, which was great to see.
The next morning (after being woken up by Yellow-breasted Chats), I checked Exit 1 on the off chance that an Ash-throated Flycatcher came early, and also birded Oliver Reservoir with Steve hoping for some late migrants, but came up short on both, so I headed back home down I-80.
County Listing
The weekend of the 21st, I was once again prepared to head to Exit 1 for the flycatcher, as Boni was checking early that morning. I left Lincoln early, hoping that she would find it, but after no luck, I pivoted the day into a county birding adventure! I was very close to 125 species in Lincoln county, and had 7 unvisited counties in the state that were relatively close to eachother.
In Lincoln County, I just got to 125 birding along Wildlife Road, so I set off to fill in the rest of the map. The 7 new counties I visited throughout the day were Brown (48), Garfield (30), Keya Paha (39), Logan (34), Loup (36), Rock (40), and Wheeler (30). I also gained county birds in 6 other counties to tally over 300 county ticks for the day. Highlights included a Western Wood-Pewee in Brown County, and a Black-crowned Night Heron in Wheeler County.
Loon?!?!
If you think about the birds you might see in June, I suspect the last one you would think of (at least in Nebraska) are loons, especially the uncommon species that breed in the high arctic. So you can imagine the surprise on my face as I was doing yard work in 100+ degree heat and got a text from Steven Mlodinow that he was looking at a BREEDING PLUMAGE Red-throated Loon at Lake Ogallala!
This was a bird I simply could not miss, so the next morning I left Lincoln at 3am, driving through thunderstorms across the plains to arrive at Lake O just after sunrise.
I started on the dam side among hundreds of Cliff Swallows, fighting the biting flies in the calm morning and began scanning the lake. I quickly spotted a large raft of Redhead, a few grebes, and a handful of cormorants. I knew loons tend to be creatures of habit and like foraging in the same spots, so I waited. And after about 20 minutes, I saw the goofy-necked, odd-looking shape of a Red-throated Loon (328) flying straight in. It landed on the far east side of the lake, and I was able to position myself in the middle of the diversion dam to observe and get some good photos. It dove a handful of times right after landing and then was content to sit and show off, preening, scratching, and even flapping it's wings once for me. I still can barely believe it, definitely one of the highlight birds of the year!
Big Year-wise, this was a great bird to get out of the way now, because now I can spend my time in November looking for winter irruptive species in the pine ridge instead of scanning reservoirs for loons!
Now, since I had gotten all the way out to Lake McConaughy, I decided to also take a stab at the Laughing Gull that Mlodinow had also seen the day before. I ran into Eugene again (who also got the loon) and we both split up to different parts of the lake to search for the gull. Around 12:45, I decided to break for lunch, and sure enough, right after I had ordered, Eugene texted me that he had the bird. I left as soon as I could, driving the 20 minutes back towards Martin Bay where he had was looking at the gull, and sure enough, not 10 minutes before I got back, the bird flew, never to be seen again...
I spent the rest of the day looking for it, with no luck, and decided to spend the night as well to try again in the morning. Same story: huge lake, one bird, no luck. I think I nearly put in more effort looking for this bird that the Common Crane in March. My consolation prize was the Piping Plovers. They were all over the beaches, and incredibly photogenic, especially in the morning. Lots of parents were still tending nests, but I also saw one juvenile! I gave it until 1:30 the next day, hoping that the gull would show up at the same spot in Martin Bay before heading home.
Record Watch: My goal this year is to go for the state Big Year record, and 6 months in, I think I am on track. With 20 birds to go, I have at least 11 species that I am very confident that I will be able to get, which leaves 9 more out of rarities, post-breeding wanderers, and winter irruptive species. I'll give it my best, but only time will tell...
Thanks this month to Eugene, Keegan, Pro, Dave, Boni, Stephen, Steve, and everyone else that I birded with and has provided encouragement or support throughout the month, I really appreciate it!
- Henslow's Sparrow, Pawnee
- Least Bittern, Douglas
- Cassin's Sparrow, Chase
- Sage Thrasher, Sioux
- Lesser Goldfinch, Scotts Bluff
- Red-throated Loon, Keith
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