Bird Tally at Valentine - October-November 2017

Bird observations continued in the immediate vicinity of Valentine during October-November 2017. Nearby natural spaces continued to be monitored in the manner as they have for many previous months, especially at the northern edge of the city, and as notably associated with Minnechaduza Creek. Patterns of occurrence—generally but with notable exceptions—continued to somewhat similar to those of the two previous viewing seasons, while still, every day has been different. These observations continue to convey what can be daily differences for bird occurrence, and with particulars recorded in detail, and for particular locales as entered into a well-developed database.

• Canada Goose: numbers increased as bunches of these waterfowl began to congregate for the winter; notably occurring at the Valentine Mill Pond, but skeins regularly seen in flight and calling as they traverse the local airspace; the birds regularly flew northward in the morning; the reason: to forage on remnant agricultural field grain?
  
• Wild Turkey: a hen and her brood of two were regular visitors early in October, and occasionally a larger bunch would visit, but eventually the birds went elsewhere in the vicinity and were no longer seen at the places they had once preferred
  
• Sandhill Crane: migratory flights notably missed despite bird-watching attention focused to determine their occurrence; in previous years, the flights of birds going south were so obvious they could not be missed
  
• Great Horned Owl: a pair dwelling on the north side of the pond were especially vocal, with duets regularly heard in the dark hours
  
• Northern Flicker: the most regularly seen woodpecker, with both the red-shafted and yellow-shafted subspecies seen, there seems to be a shift in occurrence between seasons, as more red-shafted seem to be observed in the autumn and winter; this may just be an artifact of observations as no detailed comparisons have been done?
  
• American Crow: only a couple of instances of larger sized flocks going southerly during October, and nothing like the numbers seen during the same period in 2016; just a few seen otherwise, probably representing birds that live locally
  
• Cedar Waxwing: probably a permanent resident of lesser numbers, as they have been seen throughout the seasons and are known breeders, but they may not be seen on any particular day
  
• Eurasian Collared Dove: a prominent resident, especially in the conifers used for lawn landscaping along Lake Shore Drive
  
• Rock Dove: residents within the city, especially at the livestock market
  
• Marsh Wren: heard at the mill pond at its western extent where the cattails grow
  
• Common Starling: thankfully this species seems to have an intermittent occurrence; it can occur in greater numbers at the livestock market or on the powerline wires along the Cowboy Trail right-of-way, with a few sometimes seen here or there but not with any persistence
  
• Townsend's Solitaire: a nice addition at the end of November
  
• Red-winged Blackbird: the vegetation of the mill pond provided an overnight roost; they would then fly northward in the morning
  
• American Robin: bunches regularly occur, being seen mostly in flight over the hills as they go about daily travels across the local landscape
  
• Sparrow species: their transitory nature was evident; when they did occur, they were readily seen outside the north window of the shack so it was easy to keep records
  
• Dark-eyed Junco: the most reliable species of occurrence once they arrive, as they are usually seen and appreciated every day; during the period, there were a few instances when one would strike the big pane of window glass on the north side of the shack, but thankfully no mortality was evident; bug smears on the glass, due to smashed flies seemed to make no difference
  
• Northern Cardinal: surprisingly not a single one of this species was seen or heard during the two months; it has seemingly been a sparse resident so certainly only a few occur; perhaps one might be seen more often if time was taken to watch bird activity at some of the bird feeders on the north fringe of the city, near Eighth and Main streets, as a regular haven seems to be the Valentine City Park
  

Many of the other species on this list are regularly seen within the survey area. It would be a task to record species present on any day, and would actually not be worth doing, but to keep regular, intermittent records is a means to get facts to allow worthwhile comparisons. When these efforts extend for an extended time-frame, the indication of wildbird occurrence is improved.

The overall tally for the two months was 58 species. This compares to 56 species for the same time period in 2016, and 49 in 2015. Consolidating the records kept for these three years, the tally is 77 species, indicating well the variability of recorded occurrences, as represented overall, by observations made on a very regular manner for the days during these two months for three different years.

Weather during the weeks was moderate, with daily high temperatures above the average many times. There were no occurrences of cold where there might have been frosty days and without any temperatures below zero degress. There was very little snowfall, and so snow cover was nearly nonexistent except for a skiff on the ground.

Valentine Bird Tally: October-November, 2017

Proper Name     Julian Date:	277	280	281	282	284	303	309	315	316	317	318	322	328	334
Canada Goose	2	75	- -	16	24	12	223	110	106	143	146	575	725	215
Cackling Goose	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	6	10	7	3
Wood Duck	- -	- -	- -	4	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -
American Wigeon	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	5	- -
Mallard	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	- -	8	18	- -	- -	- -	5	- -	22
Common Merganser	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Wild Turkey	18	3	- -	20	3	12	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Pied-billed Grebe	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	1	- -	1	- -	- -
Great Blue Heron	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Great Egret	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Double-crested Cormorant	- -	- -	- -	1	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Turkey Vulture	44	- -	1	- -	4	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Northern Harrier	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Bald Eagle	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	1	1	1	- -	- -	- -	1	1	- -
Red-tailed Hawk	- -	- -	- -	1	2	- -	- -	- -	2	1	- -	1	1	- -
Rough-legged Buzzard	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -
Greater Yellowlegs	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Ring-billed Gull	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Rock Dove	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	22	- -	35	- -	- -	35
Eurasian Collared Dove	4	7	- -	- -	14	4	3	1	1	- -	12	1	2	45
Mourning Dove	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Eastern Screech Owl	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Great Horned Owl	- -	2	- -	1	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	2	- -
Belted Kingfisher	1	1	- -	1	- -	1	1	- -	1	1	1	1	- -	- -
Red-bellied Woodpecker	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Downy Woodpecker	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	2
Hairy Woodpecker	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	1	- -	1
Northern Flicker	1	1	- -	1	- -	1	1	- -	- -	- -	1	1	- -	3
American Kestrel	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Blue Jay	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
American Crow	- -	- -	51	27	- -	5	3	- -	2	- -	- -	2	4	2
Cedar Waxwing	- -	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	12	- -	- -	- -	- -
Black-capped Chickadee	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	2	2	1	3	- -	- -	3	2	- -
Marsh Wren	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Red-breasted Nuthatch	- -	- -	- -	1	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	2	3	- -	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	- -	1	- -	- -	2	2	2	1	2	- -	- -	2	- -	1
Common Starling	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	40	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Eastern Bluebird	2	8	- -	5	7	1	- -	1	- -	2	- -	- -	4	4
Townsend's Solitaire	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1
American Robin	5	5	- -	175	- -	125	- -	- -	10	- -	30	15	10	15
House Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	5	- -	- -	12	- -	15
House Finch	12	6	- -	30	- -	8	12	4	- -	- -	- -	6	6	12
American Goldfinch	- -	- -	- -	8	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Orange-crowned Warbler	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Audubon's Warbler	- -	1	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Red-winged Blackbird	65	55	- -	40	- -	- -	30	30	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Common Grackle	- -	- -	- -	- -	6	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Song Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Lincoln's Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Harris's Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
White-crowned Sparrow	1	1	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
White-throated Sparrow	1	- -	- -	1	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Dark-eyed Junco	- -	1	- -	7	10	12	8	4	22	- -	- -	8	5	10
American Tree Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	5	5	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Clay-colored Sparrow	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Vesper Sparrow	3	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Spotted Towhee	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -

Besides looking along the travel way to observe subtle actions and sounds of wildbirds worth denoting, attempts were made to keep one or two close. Placing a suet feeder on the front porch of the shack, was successful, but only minimally as a Downy Woodpecker visited only a couple of times. Flickers would forage nearby but never found the "free lunch." This is nearly the same result as trying to attract Turkey Vultures to a fox carcass. At least the juncos were attracted to the "horse feed" put out to provide supplemental feed. Deer liked to eat everything set of, but by varying the presentation, they didn't gobble it all up, so a newly arrived rabbit came to the buffet. One other appreciation during the month, was the eviction of a feral cat. Repeated personal efforts to drive it away didn't work, but someone else took care of the problem quite nicely.

The two silent owl sentinels continue to keep looking eastward at the nearby hillside. They are so patient, having not moved away from perch atop a fence perch as they continue their stolid hardware task. They are so stoic that it has not been possible to make an identification, though they are differently colored, but similar in size.

Revised Zoning Regulations for Wind Turbines Were Approved

December 13, 2017. Revised zoning for wind turbines were approved. Valentine Midland News 46(23): 14. A letter to the editor.

Special thanks to Jim Buer, Coby Billings, Albert Ericksen, Todd Mathis, Herb Pabst, Lynelle Stillwell, John Wheeler, Gary Swanson, and Rob Lee. They are volunteer members of the Cherry County Planning and Zoning Board that have given due diligence to tasks, especially most recently. After months of lengthy discussion and discourse, revised zoning regulations regarding wind turbines were approved by a majority vote in November for submittal to the county commissioners. Very important choices were made on acceptable noise levels, setback distances, as well as blade flicker and fire safety concerns.

It is now time for commissioners to responsibly consider regulation revisions as they regard the future for the county.

Decisions based upon public discourse have become words of particular pertinence. Any vote affecting the future should truly reflect ongoing public comments, including those of many county residents and others with experience with the industrial turbines. Many of these perspectives will likely be further expressed at a pending public hearing which will be a significant event that should not, however, occur during the holiday period out of respect for seasonal traditions.

Actions on any permit requests for turbines should not be considered until there is a commissioner vote on the final language of the regulations. There has been a multitude of hours spent considering this issue, and any rush to action would be disrespectful.

Wind developments in different parts of Nebraska and the nation have recently been getting knowledgeable scrutiny, resulting in a significant transition about the values and needs associated with turbine farms. In Cherry county, the citizens and decision-makers need to take full advantage of considerate fore-sight, rather than having any lament for what might go wrong following unsuitable industrial development.

Any decisions need to reflect the will of the people and represent what is best for Cherry county and indicate what the majority of residents prefer. Let the people decide! Perhaps the decision on these things should depend upon a vote of county residents, rather than people with an agenda of bias sitting in a room?

Figuratively, mules or horses may pull a wagon, but it is the attentive driver perched upon a front seat, holding the reins, that sets the course.

James E. Ducey,

Valentine