Nebraska Big Year: August Recap
September 02, 2025
Year birds: +11 (341)
State birds: +4 (351)
Life birds: +3 (526, +3 in Colorado)
eBird Trip Report
August is usually referred to as the "summer doldrums", but my August was full of incredible rarities! It started off on the tail end of a successful trip out west in July. Keegan and I had just driven out through North Platte where we picked up a Rufous Hummingbird. Our other hummingbird target was Calliope, so we headed out to Gering to search.
Hummingbirds!
Since no Calliope hummers had been reliably reported yet, we decided to start off the day with a little county listing. We headed out to the least populated county, Banner, to find some birds. Long Canyon had some great habitat, and we were able to find 26 species, including some panhandle specialties like Lesser Goldfinch and Cassin's Kingbird.
On our way back to Gering we stopped over lunchtime at some hummingbird feeders in the Wildcat Hills. We almost immediately found Black-chinned Hummingbirds, both adults and 2 juveniles! A Broad-tailed visited for a short while, and a third species flew right up to us, as if to say "hey, look at me" before feeding on some Rocky Mountain Beeplant. I quickly took photos so we coud identify it. We were torn between Broad-tailed and Rufous, but really couldn't place it in either bucket, before we realized it was our lifer Calliope Hummingbird (331)!
What now?
After getting our target bird on the first day of our trip, we decided to head to the Pine Ridge to see if we could pull out any rarities. Birds on my mind were Black Hills breeders, like Canyon Wren, Lewis's Woodpecker and Dusky Flycatcher. We had a lovely morning birding Harrison WTP and Sowbelly Canyon, before hopping over to Gilbert Baker WMA to take a quick look.
It was nearing mid-morning and it was getting hot fast, so we took a quick hike from the parking area across the creek and back. On our way back, after not seeing much, we heard a bird singing near the creek. As I had just been in Florida, after a few seconds I was able to identify the distinctive song as a White-eyed Vireo (332)! Totally unexpected! We pished it in and were able to get some decent photos of the particularly ragged individual.
After that, we spent the night in Alliance, had some AMAZING barbeque (Golden Hour, highly recommended), and came back east via Crescent Lake NWR, which was loaded with shorebirds, mostly Avocets and Baird's.
Rarities
At this point in a big year, there isn't much left, so every new bird is pretty much a rarity. Mid-August was FULL of them.
On the morning of August 11th, an Arctic Tern was found at Lake Minitare by Stephen Brenner. I immediately set off on the longest chase of the year so far, driving 12 hours round trip to pick up this life bird and year bird #333!
Not long after, on August 15th, I decided to do a loop of some lakes around Lincoln to look for Laughing Gulls or other post-breeding wanderers. At Oak Lake Park, I hit the jackpot, not with gulls, but with a pair of Long-tailed Jaegers (335)! I initially assumed they must be dark Ring-billed Gull juveniles, but took some more photos and they were unmistakably Jaegers! Immediately, I got the word out, and a handful of birders were able to come enjoy them before they took off and headed South.
Splits and Lumps
Every Year the AOS reviews taxonomy, and based on research splits and lumps species. This year we didn't have any lumps affect my year list, but we did have one split, the Warbling Vireo. Western Warbling Vireo is now a new species, so the bird I heard singing in May at Oliver Reservoir will now count for my list! At the time, it would be #314, but now I'm slotting it in at #334 at the time of the split. Unfortuantely, I didn't get photos or a recording of the bird, so that will be a goal for next spring!
Dream Bird
At the beginning of the year, I created a short list of birds that I would absolutely LOVE to see in Nebraska. These included a few that had been seen before as well as some that hadn't, like Greater Roadrunner, Harris's Hawk, Roseate Spoonbill, and Swallow-tailed Kite. On August 17th, my dream came true! John and Shari got eyes on a Swallow-tailed Kite at Pioneers Park in Lincoln! I had family over at my house working on a project, but we were just about done when the word got out so we headed that way IMMEDIATELY. As we were driving up, a bird soared over the road, and it was it! We quickly got the word out that we had refound it. The bird was later seen by pretty much everyone in the state, it seemed, and later in the week we discovered a second bird!
Rarities: Reprise
Coming off the high of the stream of rarities in Nebraska, I headed west on a personal trip to do some hiking in Colorado. The trip was wonderful and netted me 3 more life birds (Colorado trip report). Literally as I was summitting a mountain, I got a text from Steven Mlodinow that he found an adult White Ibis at Lake Mac. Luckily, I was able to convince my wonderful fiance to take a quick detour on the way home, and I was able to tick off #337 for the year! The bird was quite distant and took some searching, but this definitely was a bird I was not expecting to see 2 years in a row.
West Again
The end of August means the beginning of migration, so I headed out west again to try to find some of the western fall migrants with Keegan and Paul Roisen. The trip started off very well, on the first day we were able to track down a skulky Macgillivray's Warbler (338) and another life bird for myself Gray Flycatcher (339). Unfortuantely, on that first day, the flycatcher only perched for a split second, so Keegan and Paul didn't get to see it. The next day we headed back to Oliver and just like before, it perched up for only a split second, but Keegan and Paul were able to get eyes on it! What a relief. Later in the trip, we found a Hammond's Flycatcher (340) at Gotte Park and a Cassin's Vireo (341) at the Gering Cemetery.
While out west, we got word that Michael Willison found a Virginia's Warbler at Exit 1. We headed there immediately, and with group of 6 birders, fanned out in the area, but despite our efforts we were unable to refind it. Also, while on the trip, a Pine Warbler was found in Omaha, but it seems that bird has also skipped town, it's just a risk you take when you travel during a year like this.
That leaves only 2 western migrant targets, Townsend's Warbler and Dusky Flycatcher. Try as we might, we simply couldn't nail down either species on this trip. We may have been slightly early.
Record Watch: With the incredible amount of rarities in August, I think I am in a great position to beat the record. 7 to go to set a new record, 9 for the big 350, and I still have a shortlist of 16 or so birds that are regular. As always, I am incredibly thankful for all the birders who have helped me out this month and encouraged me, especially the current king of Nebraska Big Years, Paul Dunbar! I couldn't do it without you all.
Thanks this month to Colin, Stephen, Olivia, Steven, John and Shari, Boni, Paul R, Keegan, Tommy, Eugene, Michael, and especially my lovely fiance Caroline for putting up with my antics and weekend absences!
- Calliope Hummingbird, Scotts Bluff
- White-eyed Vireo, Sioux
- Arctic Tern, Scotts Bluff
- *Western Warbling Vireo, Kimball
- Long-tailed Jaeger, Lancaster
- Swallow-tailed Kite, Lancster
- White Ibis, Keith
- MacGillivray's Warbler, Kimball
- Gray Flycatcher, Kimball
- Hammond's Flycatcher, Kimball
- Cassin's Vireo, Scotts Bluff
* (taxonomy split)
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