Results of Backyard Bird Count in Cherry County, Nebraska

Four participants contributed to the Great Backyard Bird Count in eastern Cherry county during the long weekend. The primary count sites were the Carolyn and LeRoy Semin ranch just west of Kilgore, the northeast side of Valentine and within Valentine as seen during a ca. three mile bicycle ride, The Quigley bird feeders as an incidental count, and then the Gallino Ranch on the southeast side of Valentine wildlife refuge.

At the Semin place, birds were primarily counted in the morning in association with bird feeders associated with the residence.

On the north side of Valentine, some sighting reports starting on Friday when junco and turkeys were prevalent at a bird seed source. The most prominent observation was five trumpeter swans - three adults and two juveniles which was the largest count for this species at this site in recent years - at the Valentine Mill Pond on Saturday morning. There was also a smaller cackling goose well seen amidst a flock of its larger conjoiners. So many Canada goose were lingering on the ice. Several other birds sorts were prevalent at the North Lake Shore Hills as well as then in Valentine.

House sparrows were busy getting ready for the pending breeding season along Main Street building facades. At least three starlings were also getting involved. A single robin stood on a yard fence post as seen while bicycling about.

More robins had been recently seen at the Semin Ranch in previous days.

From heart city, a red-breasted nuthatch was heard north of the pond on Saturday was an addition to the tally though it was not seen during a count.

Nearby on the north side of town is the well cared-for Quigley bird feeder. Incidental during the count weekend, Anne Quigley had seen chickadees, both the red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker and juncos.

“I really enjoy the birds,” Quigley said. They become notably more prominent once more seed was placed in the feeder during the count weekend, she said.

A summary of the 27 species noted during bird count weekend. Value given is a composite total for the particular site.

Proper Name	Semin Ranch, Kilgore	North Lake Shore Hills	Valentine Mill Pond	Valentine City Park	Quigley Place, Valentine	Valentine	Gallino Ranch, Valentine Lake District
American Crow	- -	2	1	- -	- -	- -	15
American Goldfinch	58	- -	- -	- -	- -	8	- -
American Robin	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -
American Tree Sparrow	33	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Black-capped Chickadee	5	- -	4	4	2	1	- -
Blue Jay	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2	- -
Cackling Goose	- -	- -	4	- -	- -	- -	- -
Canada Goose	106	- -	1425	14	- -	- -	50
Common Pheasant	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	20
Common Starling	3	- -	- -	- -	- -	3	- -
Dark-eyed Junco	29	16	- -	3	3	- -	- -
Downy Woodpecker	4	- -	1	- -	1	- -	- -
Eurasian Collared Dove	- -	3	2	- -	- -	6	- -
Great Horned Owl	6	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2
Greater Prairie-Chicken	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	20
Hairy Woodpecker	- -	- -	- -	1	- -	- -	- -
Horned Lark	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
House Sparrow	- -	- -	20	- -	- -	56	- -
Northern Cardinal	- -	- -	2	- -	2	- -	- -
Northern Flicker	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -
Red-breasted Nuthatch	- -	- -	1	- -	1	- -	- -
Red-tailed Hawk	1	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Rock Dove	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	12	- -
Sharp-tailed Grouse	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Trumpeter Swan	- -	- -	5	- -	- -	- -	- -
White-breasted Nuthatch	- -	- -	3	4	1	1	- -
Wild Turkey	- -	5	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -

Several pictures were taken of the birds that occurred at the Semin place.

Summary of bird counts made each of the four count days at the Semin Ranch.

Proper Name	14 Feb 2020	15 Feb 2020	16 Feb 2020	17 Feb 2020
American Goldfinch	25	16	11	6
American Tree Sparrow	2	10	1	20
Black-capped Chickadee	2	- -	2	1
Canada Goose	- -	- -	106	- -
Common Starling	2	- -	1	- -
Dark-eyed Junco	10	6	5	8
Downy Woodpecker	1	1	1	1
Great Horned Owl	2	2	1	1
Horned Lark	2	- -	- -	- -
Northern Flicker	1	- -	- -	1
Red-tailed Hawk	- -	- -	1	- -
Sharp-tailed Grouse	- -	- -	- -	- -

Multitudes of other birds were present in the county during the weekend. Nearly all of them were not counted. Warming weather meant ice-free waters at a multitude of lakes where waterfowl congregate.

The bird observations in Cherry county were a small but yet still important part of the worldwide weekend count.
A newspaper article on the results of the count was issued on pages A1 and A2 in the North Platte Telegraph on February 20th, and included two pictures taken by Carolyn Semin. She also posted a few others on her facebook page.

Omaha Parkland Surveys During Bird Count

Elmwood Park Ravine.

Several east Omaha parks were surveyed during the recent Great Backyard Bird County.

The seven places visited were:

• N.P. Dodge Park, as surveyed by Jerry Toll;
• Carter Lake and Levi Carter Park;
• Fontenelle Park, including a second checklist from Sunday morning;
• Adams Park;
• Memorial Park, which included Happy Hollow Creek and Wood Creek on the west side
• Little Elmwood Park on the 17th; and
• Elmwood Park, including the northern portion of the golf course, along Wood Creek, at Shadow Lake and the ravine along Happy Hollow Boulevard.

Metcalfe Park was visited on the 17th, but there were no birds present within the park space, but a very few were heard nearby.

Park Birdlife

Overall, 46 species were documented, as indicated by a tabular summary of the count results.

Common Name	N.P. Dodge Park	Carter Lake	Fontenelle Park	Adams Park	Memorial Park	Little Elmwood Park	Elmwood Park
Cackling Goose	4	45	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Canada Goose	99	275	73	- -	- -	- -	- -
Gadwall	- -	6	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
American Wigeon	- -	4	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Mallard	- -	165	- -	- -	- -	- -	7
Northern Shoveler	- -	225	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Northern Pintail	- -	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Canvasback	- -	80	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Redhead	- -	70	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Ring-necked Duck	- -	100	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Lesser Scaup	- -	145	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Bufflehead	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Common Goldeneye	- -	40	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Hooded Merganser	- -	12	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Ruddy Duck	- -	4	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Pied-billed Grebe	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Bald Eagle	7	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Cooper's Hawk	- -	- -	- -	1	1	- -	- -
Red-tailed Hawk	1	2	- -	- -	- -	- -	2
American Kestrel	- -	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
American Coot	- -	35	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Ring-billed Gull	6	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Rock Pigeon	- -	- -	10	- -	- -	- -	- -
Red-bellied Woodpecker	- -	- -	1	- -	1	1	5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1
Downy Woodpecker	1	- -	1	2	3	- -	7
Hairy Woodpecker	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2
Northern Flicker	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2
Pileated Woodpecker	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Blue Jay	2	- -	1	- -	2	- -	2
American Crow	2	- -	- -	5	3	- -	- -
Black-capped Chickadee	4	- -	4	8	7	2	15
Tufted Titmouse	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	1	- -	1	1	3	1	6
Brown Creeper	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	- -
American Robin	- -	- -	6	2	55	2	- -
European Starling	- -	3	- -	- -	6	1	- -
American Tree Sparrow	18	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Song Sparrow	7	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Swamp Sparrow	1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Harris's Sparrow	1	8	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Dark-eyed Junco	12	- -	2	1	7	- -	19
Northern Cardinal	1	- -	2	5	3	1	8
House Finch	- -	- -	- -	- -	8	1	4
American Goldfinch	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	4
House Sparrow	- -	- -	- -	3	- -	4	6

Carter Lake continues as a winter's haven for various species of waterfowl. The number of Canvasback submitted required additional details of confirmation. The same for the Pied-billed Grebe and American Coot.

New arrivals are the Gadwall, American Wigeon and Northern Pintail. An American Kestrel was unexpected. There were few song birds present.

Waterfowl at Carter Lake, including a bunch of Cackling geese.

Many of the regular species present during an Omaha winter were denoted to one extent or another at the parks, especially juncos and cardinals. Chickadees were cherry especially cherry at the Elmwood Park environs.

An exceptional place for Mallards was Shadow Lake at Elmwood Park, where just a few of these ducks occurred, at what is a regular seasonal haven.

N.P. Dodge Park was the place for sparrows, with Swamp Sparrows most notable.

A Pileated Woodpecker was seen, which required additional commentary. This species has been observed at this locale since December 2010.

Missing at Memorial Park and Elmwood Park were any Winter Wrens.

It would have been nice to have gotten to have able to include Hummel Park up north, and to the south, Spring Lake Park and Mandan Park. Perhaps another time. Also lacking from the count effort, was a survey from Lake Manawa, to allow a comparison of waterfowl at the two urban lakes.

Illegal ATV at the northwest woods of Levi Carter Park. This vehicle drove among the woods, despite the signs indicating that doing so was illegal, and despite the many tree trunks blocking the way.

Elsewhere, on the City of Carter Lake side of the lake, two guys had a five-gallon bucket partially filled with golf balls, and were using a bat to hit them into the lake.

These are two examples of the illegal and moronic behavior which occurs at the lake and park.