Sunday Outing to Midtown Parks During World Migratory Bird Weekend

On Sunday morning, May 9th, the birdly theme of the weekend continued with another outing to see what particular species were about. On this day, the route was well-known and has been repeatedly traveled, along two creeks and through two parks of midtown Omaha: Memorial Park and Elmwood Park.

There were 38 species noted during the morning foray. An additional species likely present but not noted would have been the Turkey Vulture. The numbers given in this table, are the number of each species counted at the particular locale, with details for each distinct place in order to indicate general distribution and to make it easier to denote the bird-life present.

The outing was done in the morning, with wind speed increasing, and less than optimal conditions, but the weather in previous was no better, and there was a forecast of rain and more wind in subsequent days.

The values given in the following table are the number of each species noted at the park place.

Common Name	Happy Hollow Creek	Wood Creek, Memorial Park	Elmwood Park Ravine	Elmwood Park Pines	Shadow Lake, Elmwood Park	Wood Creek, Elmwood Park	North Course, Elmwood	Wood Creek Pond	South Grove, Wood Creek
Wood Duck	1	1	5	-	-	6	-	-	4
Red-tailed Hawk	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Mourning Dove	1	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-
Barred Owl	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chimney Swift	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Red-bellied Woodpecker	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	-	-
Northern Flicker	1	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-
Least Flycatcher	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	1	-	-	2	-	-	-
Warbling Vireo	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
Blue Jay	-	1	1	-	-	2	-	-	1
Barn Swallow	-	-	-	-	-	1	4	8	-
Black-capped Chickadee	2	2	2	-	-	2	-	-	-
Red-breasted Nuthatch	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
White-breasted Nuthatch	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
House Wren	2	-	1	-	1	3	-	-	1
Swainson's Thrush	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
American Robin	11	4	4	14	3	9	15	2	6
Gray Catbird	-	-	1	-	-	3	-	-	1
Brown Thrasher	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
European Starling	2	-	-	6	-	2	2	-	-
Cedar Waxwing	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	-	3	-	-	-	3	-	-	-
Black-and-white Warbler	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	3
Chipping Sparrow	2	-	1	21	-	-	2	-	-
Clay-colored Sparrow	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
White-throated Sparrow	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Harris's Sparrow	-	-	3	-	-	2	-	-	-
Northern Cardinal	4	3	2	-	1	1	-	-	-
Common Grackle	6	6	2	6	-	4	10	-	3
Brown-headed Cowbird	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Baltimore Oriole	1	1	1	-	1	1	2	-	1
House Finch	2	-	1	7	-	-	-	-	-
American Goldfinch	-	-	2	-	-	2	-	-	-
House Sparrow	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-

Highlights of the day were the many Chipping Sparrows foraging at the Elmwood Park pines. And always appreciated were the warblers, with a boisterous number of Northern Waterthrush along Wood Creek. An especially notable bunch of Barn Swallows were foraging just above the waters at Wood Creek Pond, even being seen eating bugs from a green of the golf-course.

Wood Ducks were generally about, and though there has been a pair of Mallard around, they were not noted, but can still be expected based on their recent habits.

Heard again, was a Carolina Wren at the west side of Memorial Park, as this species has been during the past few weeks, indicating it may be continuing its residence, having survived recent harsh winter weeks which are now just a memory, and something to forget.

Robins and grackles continue to be the most ubiquitous species in the park environs.

There have been surveys done in the two previous years, on nearly the same days as the one of 2010. With that information included in a records database, it is very easy to develop a list of species for the same places as denoted during the past three Mays. Overall there have been 49 different species noted.

Common Name	9 May 2008	10 May 2009	9 May 2010
Canada Goose	4	-	-
Wood Duck	12	1	17
Mallard	2	-	-
Turkey Vulture	1	-	-
Red-tailed Hawk	-	-	1
Mourning Dove	1	2	4
Barred Owl	-	-	1
Chimney Swift	2	2	2
Red-headed Woodpecker	1	-	-
Red-bellied Woodpecker	2	1	2
Downy Woodpecker	3	-	3
Northern Flicker	2	1	4
Least Flycatcher	3	1	2
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	3
Warbling Vireo	-	-	3
Blue Jay	2	1	5
Barn Swallow	3	2	13
Black-capped Chickadee	5	3	8
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	-	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	1	1	2
Carolina Wren	-	-	1
House Wren	4	6	8
Swainson's Thrush	4	2	3
American Robin	40	7	68
Gray Catbird	8	1	5
Brown Thrasher	1	-	2
European Starling	10	7	12
Cedar Waxwing	-	-	3
Orange-crowned Warbler	-	2	-
Yellow Warbler	2	3	-
Yellow-rumped Warbler	22	2	6
Blackpoll Warbler	-	4	-
Black-and-white Warbler	2	-	1
Prothonotary Warbler	1	-	-
Northern Waterthrush	-	2	5
Common Yellowthroat	1	-	-
Hooded Warbler	1	-	-
Chipping Sparrow	6	2	26
Clay-colored Sparrow	-	-	2
White-throated Sparrow	13	-	2
Harris's Sparrow	2	-	5
Northern Cardinal	11	4	11
Common Grackle	15	4	37
Brown-headed Cowbird	4	2	3
Baltimore Oriole	5	3	8
House Finch	3	2	10
Pine Siskin	2	3	-
American Goldfinch	14	2	4
House Sparrow	7	-	2

The diversity of species present during these years indicate the importance of this urban habitat to a variety of birds during different seasons, with a great number of individual birds reliant on the food and shelter provided by these two parks.