Nebraska Big Year: September Recap
October 01, 2025
Year birds: +9 (350)
State birds: +3 (355)
Life birds: +3 (530)
eBird Trip Report
Migrants, Migrants, Migrants
September is maybe the second biggest month in birding, with the slow drip of fall migration. For Nebraska birding, that means catching all the migrants in the panhandle that only pass through in the fall. Following a trip at the end of August, I still had 3 main western migrant targets.
On the second weekend of the month, I headed back out to good old Oliver Reservoir in search of a Townsend's Warbler. I met up with the Brogies and a few other birders, and after finding a rare (for the panhandle) Chestnut-sided Warbler, we connected with two Townsend's Warblers (342) in a mixed foraging flock! The next day I birded with Eugene at Oliver again, and Dusky was the main target. While we didn't find that, I did get photos of what we believe to be a Western Warbling-Vireo
Rarity Attempt
There's a saying, you miss every shot you don't take. Well, I decided to take a shot at some rarities. The second weekend of September, I headed as far southeast as I could in the state in search of a Black Vulture or Fish Crow. I spent nearly the whole day in Pawnee and Richardson counties, but only came up with Turkey Vultures and American Crows. Someday these birds will be found there, with climate change, it's only a matter of time, both species are slowly adjusting their ranges north.
Sabine's
For the next couple weeks, I also made a few trips out to Branched Oak in search of Sabine's Gulls. On my fourth trip to Branched Oak, I found one loafing around on the beach! I quickly got the word out, and after my bike ride (the original point of the trip), I met up with a few more birders and we relocated it foraging south of Lieber's Point. This wasn't a life or state bird, but it was a new bird for my Lancaster county list (269)!
West... again
Mid to late September is the beginning of Sapsucker season, so I headed west again (catching on to the pattern?) I left around noon on Friday, hoping to squeeze in a little birding in the evening, and boy, am I glad I did. I started on the west side of Oliver Reservoir looking for warblers and flycatchers in the young willows, and sure enough, I got on a flycatcher right away. I took my time with this bird (that was fairly cooperative) and took as many photos as I could before I concluded that it was my lifer Dusky Flycatcher (344)! Frankly, I had given up hope on this bird after missing it in 2 previous trips, so it was a huge boost to the effort to find one!
The next day, I birded the traditional sapsucker spot at Oliver Reservoir, but the bird did not show. It was quite a slow day, actually. It was around 11am and I was moving to the west end of the lake to see if the flycatcher was still there, when I got a text from Michael Willison. He had a sapsucker at Exit 1. So I hopped in the car and drove the 20 or so miles over to exit 1 and after an hour of searching the pines, finally found the adult male Red-naped Sapsucker (345)!
Happy with getting my 2 main targets for the trip, I headed to Scotts Bluff, where I found another Sabine's Gull on Lake Minitate. After spending the night at Wildcat Hills SRA, I made the trip home, stopping at Prairie Dog WPA on the way home for a shot at Sprague's Pipit, but they didn't show.
NOU Meeting
Earlier this summer, I had organized a group to meet up before the NOU meeting and go on a boat trip on Lake Mac in search of gulls or jaegers. Unfortunately, the rental company cancelled on me, but Keegan and I decided to stick to our plans and spend a couple days birding in the west before the meeting.
On Thursday, we headed to Crescent Lake NWR, in hopes of some late and potentially rare shorebirds (especially Red Phalarope). We didn't come up with much of anything, but while we were there, Mark Brogie notified me that they had a Pine Warbler in Big Springs. It's truly a miracle that the text even came through because cell service in the NWR is spotty at best. After scanning a couple more lakes, Keegan and I set off straight for the Big Springs Cemetery. After about an hour of searching, the Pine Warbler (346) appeared with a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers. It showed well for a bit and even sang a little!
After getting the Pine Warbler (which I'd missed twice this year already), we headed to Lake Mac to search for a Great Black-backed Gull (347). Paul Dunbar had found it earlier in the day on beach 5, and sure enough, we got to beach 5 and it was right there! It's always nice to have an "easy" chase. The gull stuck around on Friday and Saturday and was seen by many at the NOU meeting.
On Friday, since I'd already gotten the gull, Keegan and I set out on yet another adventure to Kimball with the bird nerds: Boni and Colleen. We had a great day at Oliver and found a Red-naped Sapsucker which was a state bird for both of them! On the way back, the Brogie's struck again, when they flushed some Sprague's Pipits in Cheyenne County. We all packed back in the car and went to look. After a bit of searching, we did finally hear and get eyes on them. Paul Dunbar also came along and got to experience the record-breaking bird with us! We celebrated with lunch and sundaes in Potter.
The NOU meeting itself didn't turn up anything new for the year, but it was still a great bit of birding. Sabine's Gulls, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Black-backed Gull, Sprague's Pipits are more were some of the highlights of the weekend.
Sparrows
Back at home, it was time to look for Nelson's and LeConte's Sparrows. On the 30th, I set out to Marsh Wren and found a single LeConte's Sparrow (349) among dozens of Lincoln's. Nelson's is the target for the coming week.
West... again... again...
And just when I thought I was done heading west for the month, Stephen Brenner found a very rare Pacific Wren at Oliver Reservoir. This bird was recently split from Winter Wren and only has a few records for the state. I quickly made the determination that a wren was more likely to stick in the same spot than something like a warbler, so I set off on the second longest one-day chase of the year.
I arrived at Oliver around 4pm and started working the area where the wren was seen. I tried pishing and little bit of call playback. It had been abotu 30 minutes and I was beginning to get discouraged, when a tiny little bird popped up not 6 feet away from me in a tiny conifer. At first I saw it scurrying across the ground and wasn't even sure it was a bird. It gave 2 quick high pitched call notes and gave me a good look, a tiny dark brown wren with it's tail straight up. I got my camera up and then it dove into the grass, I got a poor photo (manual focus) before it flew away and disappeared into the brush. It's moments like this that you realize how absolutely ridiculous birding can be. I drove nearly 6 hours to get a 10 second look at a tiny bird that likely just finished flying hundreds of miles from the Black Hills or the northern Rocky Mountains, insane! It wasn't the most satisfying lifer, but it was an excellent bird to hit the mark of 350 with! I spent another hour in the area trying to relocate it, but the bird was simply being uncooperative, so I decided to call it and head the nearly 6 hours back home.
Record Watch: We did it! With the addition of 9 birds this month, I have officially topped the previous record by 3 birds. From here, I will still be putting in a good effort, but the pressure is off. 350 was initially my "stretch" goal, but who knows, maybe 355 is possible? There are quite a few winter and irruptive species that I still need for my life or state list (looking at you, Snowy Owl).
I want to give a huge shoutout to Mark and Ed Brogie for locating 2 of my last 3 birds (PIWA, SPPI), Paul Dunbar for locating the record-tying GBBG, Stephen Brenner for finding the elusive Pacific Wren, as well as everyone that I birded with this month: Eugene, Keegan, Boni, Colleen, Michael, Paul, Mark, Ed, Eli, Dan, and I'm sure more than I'm forgetting. And especially thanks and love to my fiance for putting up with my antics, being gone literally every weekend, and taking off on a 12 hour road trip on a random Tuesday morning. It truly wouldn't be possible to reach anywhere near this number without all the support I've gotten!
- Townsend's Warbler, Kimball
- Sabine's Gull, Lancaster
- Dusky Flycatcher, Kimball
- Red-naped Sapsucker, Kimball
- Pine Warbler, Deuel
- Great Black-backed Gull, Keith
- Sprague's Pipit, Cheyenne
- LeConte's Sparrow, Lancaster
- Pacific Wren, Kimball
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