Nebraska

Nebraska was another new state for both of us. The whole trip came about after I posted a map June 3rd on Facebook showing all the states visited. We added three of the missing eight within a month: Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana. Mike is a great travel planner!

Before crossing the border into Nebraska we stopped at the Pawnee National Grassland in hopes of seeing our first Longspur species. The self-guided birding tour through the grassland is approximately 21 miles long and will take at least two hours. The downloadable map  identifies the expected birds at each of the 13 stops. During the drive we saw 100 Lark Buntings, 50 Horned Lark and 20 Western Meadowlarks, among others. There are many grassland areas located across the Great Plains which are managed by the US Forest Service and they serve a couple of purposes. Most important is to prevent another Dust Bowl disaster by eliminating overuse by agricultural concerns, especially during times of drought. Another important purpose is to protect and provide a great habitat for wildlife including many bird species.

The wildlife was amazing too. I always love visiting Prairie Dog towns and this one also had Burrowing Owls. There is a great show called Summer Wild narrated by Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler about the relationship between these two species. Check out the entire Hello World Discovery channel series. Pronghorn and a Gray Fox sighting made our day.

We stopped to talk to another driver while on the tour who told us to look at the birds in the dirt road near stop number 9. We never expected to get our lifer McCown’s Longspur standing in the road.

Our first stop in Nebraska was the Monument Inn & Suites. This area is going to be a top location to experience the 2017 Solar Eclipse and the desk clerk was selling eclipse t-shirts to raise money for college. We had to buy one for a good friend whose birthday falls on August 21, the date of the eclipse. After checking in we visited the Scotts Bluff National Monument to check out the sights and for some birding. We quickly heard and saw Spotted Towhee, Rock Wren and Western Kingbird. Afterward we walked from the hotel to the Union Bar where the locals hang out for good burgers, wings and beer. Our first bar that has it’s own ambulance.

We were back at Scotts Bluff National Monument when they opened the next morning. The ruts of the Oregon Trail are still evident at the Monument bluff that was used by many wagon trains as a major landmark for navigation on their westward trek. A road to the top built in the 1930’s and 1940’s offers great views of the Nebraska plains and a chance to see a few birds. We found Blue Grosbeak, Amercian Kestral, Lark Sparrow, Violet-green and Cliff Swallow among others.

Chadron State Park was our next destination and it offered more car birding along with a short hike on one of the many trails. The park is adjacent to the Nebraska National Forest and has almost 1,000 acres of Ponderosa pine covered hills and open meadows. Red-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Bluebird, Western Wood-Pewee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Spotted Towhee and a variety of warblers can easily be seen here. The land that encompasses the state park and the national forest, along with the Black Hills of South Dakota, were for centuries very important hunting grounds for the Native American Sioux tribe. Without going into too much detail, we will say all that changed due to some decisions made by our government in the late 1800’s.

We wish that we had more time to spend in Nebraska and on the prairies, but with only 5 days and over 1,000 miles to cover, we had to keep moving. We will be back one day, for sure, because there are several species of prairie birds that we have been wanting to see ever since we began to bird, including the Greater Sage-Grouse, the Sharp-tailed Grouse and the Greater Prairie-Chicken.

 

Trip Birds: 35   Life Birds: 1 McCown’s Longspur

Next up: Colorado Ptarmigan