Survey of December Birds of the Niobrara Valley, Cherry County

With moderate weather, it was an appropriate time to visit some waterfalls along the Cherry county portion of the Niobrara National Scenic River. The purpose of the outing on Friday, December 23rd, was to evaluate winter conditions of the water and ice at Fort Falls and Smith Falls and record winter season bird occurrence. Records were kept at other locales along the route. Gordon Warrick of the Niobrara National Scenic River and myself visited two prominent waterfalls.

The extent of ice on the river varied. At Fort Falls at Ford Niobrara, less than one-half of the channel width was open water. At Berry Bridge, more than half of the channel was open water flow. At Smith Falls, the river was nearly entirely ice-free across its entire width.

Looking westward at the Niobrara River as seen from Berry bridge. The waterfowl here were congregated along the northern portion of the river water at the bend in the upper portion of the picture.

Looking eastward at the Niobrara River as seen from Berry bridge.

Available riverine water provided foraging habitat for the goldeneye and mergansers. Ice ridges along the river at Smith Falls State Park provided a suitable roosting place for a bunch of Canada Goose. The other waterfowl were predominantly at the refuge ponds.

These are some of the particular highlights at the country places:

Open water creek below Smith Falls; the banks of which provide foraging places for the Winter Wren.

• Lapland Longspur: with the horned larks; foraging in a livestock pen at Smith Falls state park. They were found after locating the larks, with the common flock then checked in detail; plumage details were obvious and well seen, and just minutes after their observation, these features were compared to a field guide to make their identification certain. The last known record of this species in Cherry county was in 1974. There are numerous records from the 1930s from Wood Lake and a two from the 1910s at Niobrara Game Preserve.
  
• Winter Wren: after viewing Smith Falls and discussing geologic features and ice characteristics, as well as a discussion of management needs to ensure aspen survival, this wren was seen below the falls, just a short distance southward of the lower falls; it behavior was characteristic and well seen. A previous known records as last seen here was 18 December 2004. The water edge habitat here is distinctly similar to other sites with open flowing water throughout during even the coldest days of winter.
  
• Golden Eagle: soaring above the Niobrara River at the refuge.
  
• Northern Harrier: one soaring above the grasslands in the vicinity of the ponds east of the refuge buildings.
  
• Great Horned Owl: heard hooting at 1:11 a.m.
  
• Great Grey Shrike: well seen at the confluence of the Minnechaduza Creek; was it flew past closely, it was to be carrying a small prey item.
  
• Bald Eagle: in addition to the three at the refuge, three were seen later in the day just north of the refuge, apparently feeding on a road kill in a field west of Highway 12.
  
• American Crow: numbers were seen along Highway, in close proximity to two roads kills, one was known to be a deer.
  
• Wild Turkey: prevalent at the state park and foraging in open ground areas on the north side of the valley, where sunrays had melted away part of the snow-cover.
  

Many of the other species seen are regular area residents, and some of them are appreciating the feeders within the heart city.

This list of 34 species is also based upon personal records kept while walking to the NPS office soon after sunup, and then back to my residence in mid-afternoon.

Each of the localities are well known places, with the exception of west Berry Pond, a small pond along the county road west of Berry Bridge and before the east boundary of the federal refuge.

This tally is based on 61 distinct records kept during the day, starting at 8:30 a.m., with departure from Valentine starting at 10 a.m. and ending shortly after 2 p.m.

Common Name	North Lake Shore Hills	Valentine Mill Pond	Valentine	Fort Niobrara NWR	West Berry Pond	Berry Bridge	Smith Falls State Park
Canada Goose	- -	- -	- -	35	- -	- -	55
American Wigeon	- -	- -	- -	- -	6	- -	- -
Mallard	- -	- -	- -	185	5	- -	- -
Ring-necked Duck	- -	- -	- -	18	5	- -	- -
Common Goldeneye	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	4	- -
Common Merganser	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	4	2
Wild Turkey	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	37
Sharp-tailed Grouse	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	- -
Golden Eagle	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Northern Harrier	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Bald Eagle	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	- -	- -
Rock Dove	- -	- -	20	- -	- -	- -	- -
Eurasian Collared Dove	15	- -	6	- -	- -	- -	- -
Great Horned Owl	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Downy Woodpecker	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Hairy Woodpecker	1	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -
Northern Flicker	1	- -	1	1	- -	- -	- -
Great Grey Shrike	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Blue Jay	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
American Crow	3	- -	- -	4	- -	- -	2
Black-capped Chickadee	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	1
Horned Lark	- -	- -	- -	10	- -	- -	15
Winter Wren	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
White-breasted Nuthatch	1	2	- -	1	- -	- -	1
Common Starling	- -	- -	- -	5	- -	- -	- -
Eastern Bluebird	- -	- -	5	10	- -	- -	- -
Townsend's Solitaire	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -
American Robin	- -	8	- -	45	- -	10	- -
House Sparrow	- -	- -	10	- -	- -	- -	- -
House Finch	2	- -	35	- -	- -	- -	- -
American Goldfinch	- -	3	5	4	- -	- -	- -
Western Meadowlark	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Dark-eyed Junco	6	- -	2	8	2	- -	7
Lapland Longspur	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	4

Signs of river otter, as well as other mammals, were also noticed, both at Fort Falls and Smith Falls.

Weather conditions were sunny skies, temperatures in the lower to mid 40s and winds from 10-15 which increased in the afternoon hours. Snow cover of two to three inches was prevalent on the southern slope of the river valley.

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Winter Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs

A reason the flock of Horned Lark at Smith Falls State Park were given a closer look, is that other species are known to mingle with larks at feedlots during the snow times of the winter season. A video clip illustrates this occurrence. These birds were at a cattle feedyard just northward of Ainsworth during a snowstorm on March 20, 2006. Horned Lark were more prevalent. Notice during one short segment of the video, that blackbirds can also been seen in the background. Waste grain and somewhat bare ground associated with the cattle are two especially notable reasons for the presence of the wild birds.