Audubon Excursion Observes Early Summer Birds at Fontenelle

Flowing flood-waters on the floodplain of Fontenelle Forest. This is the area where the Pileated Woodpecker was observed.

A Wachiska Audubon Society field trip to Fontenelle Forest provided a obvious opportunity to document the early summer birdlife for a unique natural environment along the Missouri River.

Early on Saturday morning June 4th, about a dozen folks eventually gathered on the floodplain parking lot to venture forth on an early summer day during the bird breeding season. In addition to Audubon members from Lincoln, a few local birders were also present.

The route went northward from Gifford Road in the floodplain forest. The north floodplain of the forest area was still accessible to hikers. Gifford Farm was posted with a sign saying it was closed. There was some standing water on its west edge, but otherwise the land was still terrestrial, not aquatic. Missouri River flows were at a historic levels, causing flooding of lowlands here and elsewhere.

A local bird expert - Justin - was our guide noting particular songs, calls and other details to identify specific species. Others with bird id skills also noted bird behavior or other natural interests.

Each and every species present was added to a personal tally sheet, in stark comparison to many reports of bird occurrence which only list a few significant species. Denoting all species is essential and avoids the situation where sighting omissions cause a discriminatory bias and result in a skewed perspective for occurrence details.

Some of the 61 species observed - including eight warbler types - got more attention. Especially appreciated was the Yellow-throated Flycatcher, as people in the group moved around and about to try and get a suitable view.

A Pileated Woodpecker was a ghost bird along the trail as it flew low among the trees of the north floodplain, in an area with flooding waters flowing through the trees.

In the forest, looking for a flycatcher.

The Kentucky Warbler and Cerulean Warbler of the north uplands the mid-day focus. Each was readily heard in the forest and appreciated during a walk about the north uplands to Childs Hollow.

Additional species could have been noted but the flood conditions prevented access to the Great Marsh and Hidden Lake (i.e., Mallard and Tree Swallow, and perhaps Prothonotary Warbler; with the Dickcissel and Grasshopper Sparrow perhaps present further out on Gifford Point). The Scarlet Tanager was not seen, but probably present at a place not visited, maybe along Oak Trail.

Instances of nesting activity noted were:

¶ Cedar Waxwing: observed building a nest in a deciduous tree at the parking lot; and at a second place one was seen gathering nest material from a cottonwood tree spectacular in its size and over-arching presence on the floodplain.

¶ Rose-breasted Grosbeak: an adult was feeding a fledgling

¶ Eastern Wood-Pewee: an adult was present at its nest

¶ Hairy Woodpecker: a pair were attending nestlings in a tree cavity

¶ Wood Thrush: a readily observable nest had young birds

Audubon group looking at nest of a Wood Thrush.

¶ American Robin: a nest was noted

These special observations were in addition to the many other species resident during the well underway breeding season.

Historic Perspective

The day's tally provides a unique opportunity of comparison because of the rich history for Nebraska's avifauna. There have been several bird outings to this locality at the same time in past years. In 1944 a survey noted the breeding species and more recently, local watchers kept notes which indicate the occurrence of representative avifauna.

Overall, there have been 79 bird species noted for the June 4th time frame, as shown in this table giving species in their taxonomic sequence. The value shown is the number counted, with a zero indicating no count was kept, but the species was present.

Common Name	6/4/1944	6/4/1989	6/5/1989	6/3/1992	6/3/2000	6/4/2011
Canada Goose	-	-	-	-	-	1
Wood Duck	-	-	-	0	-	2
Mallard	-	-	-	1	-	-
Wild Turkey	-	-	-	-	-	6
Great Blue Heron	-	-	1	-	1	3
Green Heron	-	-	-	1	2	1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron	-	-	-	-	1	-
Turkey Vulture	-	-	-	-	-	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	-	-	-	-	2	-
Red-tailed Hawk	-	-	-	-	-	1
American Kestrel	-	-	-	-	2	-
Killdeer	-	-	-	-	1	-
Mourning Dove	0	-	-	-	-	2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	0	1	-	-	1	5
Barred Owl	-	-	-	-	-	1
Chimney Swift	-	-	-	0	-	3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	0	-	-	-	-	1
Belted Kingfisher	-	-	-	-	1	-
Red-headed Woodpecker	0	0	-	0	2	-
Red-bellied Woodpecker	0	0	-	-	-	4
Downy Woodpecker	0	0	-	-	-	2
Hairy Woodpecker	-	0	-	-	-	2
Northern Flicker	-	-	-	1	-	1
Pileated Woodpecker	-	-	-	-	-	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	0	-	-	0	-	5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	-	-	-	-	-	1
Acadian Flycatcher	0	-	-	-	-	-
Least Flycatcher	-	-	-	-	-	1
Eastern Phoebe	-	-	-	-	-	2
Great Crested Flycatcher	0	0	-	6	1	5
Eastern Kingbird	0	-	-	0	-	2
Bell's Vireo	0	-	-	-	-	-
Yellow-throated Vireo	0	0	-	3	1	2
Warbling Vireo	0	0	-	0	2	4
Red-eyed Vireo	0	2	-	-	-	1
Blue Jay	0	-	-	-	-	2
Tree Swallow	-	-	-	-	2	-
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	-	-	-	-	-	1
Barn Swallow	-	-	-	-	-	3
Black-capped Chickadee	0	0	-	-	-	3
Tufted Titmouse	0	0	-	0	-	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	0	0	-	1	-	3
Carolina Wren	-	2	-	-	-	-
House Wren	0	0	-	0	-	18
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	0	-	-	-	-	2
Eastern Bluebird	0	-	-	1	3	2
Wood Thrush	0	5	-	1	-	4
American Robin	-	-	-	0	-	3
Gray Catbird	-	0	-	0	-	4
Brown Thrasher	0	-	-	-	-	-
European Starling	-	-	-	-	-	6
Cedar Waxwing	-	-	-	3	2	3
Northern Parula	-	3	-	1	1	4
Yellow Warbler	0	-	-	-	-	1
Yellow-throated Warbler	-	-	-	1	-	2
Cerulean Warbler	0	-	-	-	-	1
American Redstart	0	-	-	0	3	11
Prothonotary Warbler	-	-	-	2	1	-
Ovenbird	0	-	-	-	-	-
Louisiana Waterthrush	0	-	-	1	-	1
Kentucky Warbler	-	-	-	-	-	1
Common Yellowthroat	0	0	-	0	-	11
Yellow-breasted Chat	0	-	-	-	-	-
Summer Tanager	0	-	-	-	-	1
Scarlet Tanager	0	0	-	-	-	-
Eastern Towhee	0	0	-	-	-	4
Field Sparrow	0	-	-	-	-	-
Grasshopper Sparrow	-	-	-	1	-	-
Song Sparrow	-	-	-	1	1	1
Northern Cardinal	0	0	-	0	-	6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	0	0	-	-	-	4
Indigo Bunting	0	0	-	0	-	8
Red-winged Blackbird	-	0	-	0	-	6
Common Grackle	-	-	-	-	-	14
Brown-headed Cowbird	-	-	-	-	-	2
Orchard Oriole	0	-	-	-	-	2
Baltimore Oriole	-	0	-	0	-	6
American Goldfinch	-	-	-	0	-	8
House Sparrow	-	-	-	-	-	4

The 1944 tally was 38 species, so the 2011 results were much different, though many of the species present were similar. The current results were partially due to a difference in the area surveyed.

The greatest difference was the absence of the Red-shouldered Hawk and Yellow-breasted Chat, two formerly characteristic species of the riverine habitat. The Field Sparrow would no longer be present as its former old-field habitat has reverted to a woodland condition.

Decades ago, there would not have been any turkey's, though the species now occurs in so many places along the river, that to not see any is the exception.

It was a fine outing on a day before summer's sweltering weather would descend upon the Missouri River valley. Other events were underway at the forest, as part of National Trails Day, and on one occasion our birding bunch had to make way for a group of adults and children along the boardway near Acorn Acres.