Bird-motif Regalia Featured at Intertribal Powwow

Feathers and other bird-motif items were featured by grandly clad dancers at the Inter-Tribal Student Council Powwow. The regalia represents "the dancers own unique expressions of spirit and experiences, often comprised of priceless heirlooms and other articles handmade by family and friends," according to a handout on powwow etiquette.

Prominent example of the importance of birds to the tribe are shown in the following examples.

Orlando

Rich, notice the thunderbird motif on his vest

Tyron, with a magnificent example of how eagle feathers can be used to create personal regalia

Darrell Grant, Omaha (pronounced "Maha")

His regalia included a waterbird staff ornament and an eagle-feather fan. Eagle feathers are held in the "highest regard" by members of the tribe, he said. Also prominent are screech-owl feathers (as featured in his garb), as well as Wild Turkey feathers.

Tony

Myron, an Omaha Winnebago

Ross, representing the next generation of dancers

Elbert, an Omaha; notice the raptor foot item

All of the most dramatic examples of bird-related adornment were outfits worn by the men. The women did often have a single feather adorning their hair.

Other examples of a bird-related motif are shown in an exquisite bead-work leggings and vest. There were numerous other examples of the fine regalia of tribal traditions being celebrated at the powwow, or wachipi in the native language.

The Omaha tribe has had a long tradition associated with birds, and their use in important ceremonies.

Darrell Grant working with the drum team during a dance.

The event was held April 28th, at the Sapp Fieldhouse on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.

Two young Queens of the powwow.

Ground Cover Netting Traps Chipping Sparrow

Plastic netting placed to hold bare soil in place, trapped and nearly led to the demise of a Chipping Sparrow.

A pair of these sparrows were observed was foraging along Happy Hollow Creek about noon, and about two hours later came word than one had been freed from the netting covering the ground.

A community volunteer planting berry trees nearby happened to notice the bird's predicament, and was able to set it free. Its head was caught in a couple of the small squares of the netting. Apparently when going after a bit of an edible, the head was stuck through the net, but when trying to pull it back out, the feathers caught and prevented any escape.

The bird could have easily died due to being trapped for a long term, or it might have fallen prey to a foraging crow, one which was noted at the site, later.

This netting covers three areas along Happy Hollow Creek where a City of Omaha project was recently done to stabilize the banks with gabion baskets full of rock. The mesh was supposed to be biodegradable, but it is not clear if that is actually the case?

The plastic material is now an obvious hazard to the many birds present in the area.

Arbor Day Tree Plantings at Omaha Parks

During the period around Arbor Day, tree plantings occurred at three different Omaha parks.

The most diverse planting was a neighborhood-driven effort to place berry trees along Happy Hollow Creek.

Wild plum, elderberry, paw-paw are planted closer to the creek, said Sarah Newman who is responsible for the effort. Nearer to the sidewalk are blackberry, raspberry and currants.

Planting started on April 26 with the plum trees on the west side of the plot, and once the rest of the ground was properly tilled (after two attempts), additional planting continued into the weekend.

Money for the trees and tilling came from a $1100 grant from the City of Omaha, Newman said. The city will also provide mulch. A portion of the funds will be used to provide fruit picking tools and baskets for people in the Dundee area to pick fruit at their own trees. The equipment will be kept at the Dundee Community Garden.

The fruit from these trees can be "freely picked," Newman said. The berries will also be available for local birds and other wildlife to feed upon.

An Arbor Day event was held at Fontenelle Park on Friday, the 27th. Five flowering crabs and two oak trees were planted during an event hosted by Omaha mayor, Jim Suttle.

Suttle read a proclamation, and then with a bunch of children from Holy Name Elementary School, threw dirt around the already placed crab trees, and dug a hole for one of the oaks. Acting director, Brook Bench, assisted, as did other employees of the Omaha Parks Recreation and Public Property department.

More than 200 trees, especially Scotch pine which died due to disease, have been removed from the park in the past five years, said John Wynn, city forester.

A new tree nursery was established the weekend of April 21 on the north side of Levi Carter Park. About 130 trees, bought for $35 each, were planted, said Wynn. The trees included yellow-wood, linden, locust, catalpa, spruce, gingko and oaks.

Students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha helped with the planting done Friday.

The trees will be ready to transplant in two-three years, Wynn said. This nursery was created to provide a better-located site — with a reduction in travel while planting trees at east Omaha parks — rather than relying upon the nursery presently at Tranquility Park, in the western part of the city.

City Responds Within Hours to Citizen Comment

City of Omaha officials responded within hours to a comment regarding the situation associated with a project along Happy Hollow Creek.

These are the notable details:

at 1:50 p.m. April 25, a set of four picture was sent to Omaha officials, and two media outlets, with the following comments:

The attached pictures indicate the current situation at the rec trail along Happy Hollow, a condition which has not changed for at least ten days.

There is a prominent error in the placement pads for the base of the barricades as shown in the pictures, representing different spots, not just one...

Please tell me why people have to jog in the street because of a construction error, and a failure to move ahead and address the issue so the trail could be reopened?

How simple it would be to get rid of the dirt piles at the south end and move the traffic barriers close to the barricade being installed, allowing at least partial access to the sidewalk.

I'm not sure yet if I will post these pictures online. They certainly do indicate how the people responsible for this project are indifferent to trail users and are willing to put people into unsafe conditions, by forcing them to run in the street or cross the street in an area where there is nothing to slow the traffic.

I'd think city officials would go out of their way to work with the neighborhood, but as this is a second instance of negative significance that has been left to languish, that is apparently not the case!

Perhaps local residents should revise the conditions at the site to make it safe for their community? It would only take a few minutes to move the barriers...

Along Happy Hollow Creek, though the situation was not quite pleasant at the time. It was ironic that three Turkey Vultures were soaring over the site when the media arrived.

At 4:15 p.m. a local television station was filming at the scene, and conducted an interview

The news item was presented on the 10 p.m. news, the same day; the reporter was live at the scene, and the story included custom graphics, including map

A written version of the report was available on the morning of the 26th, and later the video

At 10 a.m., the construction contractor was at the site, beginning to move the barricades and remove the dirt pile

By 1 p.m., the trail was partially open

The recreational trail was obviously being used once obstructions were removed.

The Happy Hollow trail on Thursday afternoon.

Once again, no response was received by the officials of the city of Omaha to whom the email was sent. The "acting" parks director also preferred to indicate a contractor's mistake, though it is entirely possible that the engineer plans were not correct.

Accolades Received for Newspaper Writings

A story of water and graphic depictions of historic livestock brands associated with the Sand Hills region, as published in the Grant County News, issued at Hyannis, Nebraska, have been recognized for their exceptional quality.

The Better Newspaper Contest associated with the Nebraska Press Association, announced award-winners at their annual meeting on Saturday, April 14, 2012 in Lincoln.

Award-winning recognition for my efforts occurred in two categories, based upon entries submitted by the newspaper publisher, Sharon Wheelock.

Use of Computer Graphics - 2nd place
For the "Cattle Brands" entry associated with the paper's two stories on Heritage Ranches and Heritage Brands. The stock brands story included graphics depicting the hot-iron brands of the era, and associated details to convey how newspaper ads presented essential details during this early time for ranching within the sandhills region. This is the first time the Grant County News has won an award in this category, according to an article on the front page of the April 19 issue of the newspaper.

Two examples of those graphic images are given here in color, though they were issued in black-and-white. They feature a custom graphic of a cow or horse, designed to convey historic stock brands in a standard manner.
Single Feature Story - 2nd place for the story: "Amelia - the Village of Water" as written during the weeks when there was a great focus on the Keystone XL pipeline, which was not mentioned within the story. The story emphasis was on the people and the water as they knew it.

This story had an origin of uncertainty last year, but the effort went ahead on a weekend while in Holt County during an autumn visit. The opportunity to talk with the "mayor" made all the difference.

There were more than 4300 entries representing 13 daily and 83 weekly newspapers. Members of the Alabama Press Association were judges.

New Martin House an Immediate Attraction

Within two minutes, Purple Martins used their new house that had just been erected at Levi Carter Park on Saturday April 21st, during the Earth Day weekend.

Bing Behrens of the Wild Bird Habitat Store, and myself as a tepid assistant, installed the house north of the caretaker's residence at Levi Carter Park. A fisherman stopped by to inquire about the new structure, mentioning he was glad to see this sort of thing being done in the park.

Bing pulled the rope to raise the "mini-castle" to its peak in the sky, thus establishing a new martin house at mid-day.

In the following moments, filled with sublime excitement for the birds and two watchers, martins flew nearby to take a closer look, with others immediately following to get their own view. The first pioneer sat on a perch to get a good look at the new digs.

The same birds had been "complaining" about the temporary disturbance of the neighborhood during the installation. They were always vocal, whether in flight about the scene, or sitting outside their apartment rather than sitting in their residence.

The perspective of the martins was immediately changed.

Further watching indicated the martins were obviously appreciative of the East House. Shortly, females were attracted to what was nearly recognized as a suitable place to nest. Within a few more moments, some magnificent martins were sitting on the house-top roost, landing upon a roost outside each apartment to peer within, wondering if they should perhaps move.

A few feet away at the West House, there was uncertainty. Mother martins to be had been working hard to get their nest ready by bringing in nest material. Did they want to stay, or should they move to the new place?

The behavior of the birds was readily apparent. Ignoring any anthropomorphic fallacies, there may have even been a "husband" trying to stay put while his mate kept looking to the east. Was his preening displacement behavior?

The East House certainly had unsurpassed features. Each apartment offered more room with space between each place, and had an elevated floor for cleanliness. There was an individual perch out front for the couple's use and eventually for their brood. A common-space roost was available above the rooftop. The residence was a completely new, not a cleaned out space used by many other previous tenants.

The West House has been present for an unknown number of years. The mid-day bird drama at Levi Carter Park, was because the martins didn't get a message about a new construct.

Many others did, since this effort was successful only because of effort and focused intent.

The Audubon Society of Omaha board quickly approved purchase of the house, within a day's time.

The Omaha Parks Recreation and Public Property provided a letter of approval on Friday morning. The department is "pleased to support the efforts to enhance the habitat of" purple martins in a park, according to a letter from Patrice Slavin, issued on April 20. Randy Garlip, park caretaker, was helpful in noting that he had cleaned the West House, and also helped indicate a good spot for the Eat House, out of the way of his mowing duties.

A multi-call process to the Diggers Hotline worked -- due to expressing an emergency on Friday afternoon -- to get a clearance approval, as required by Nebraska legal statutes, to break the surface of the ground. Approval is required even to plant a flower or tree, till a garden, stick a flag into the ground, break the ground surface which the kick of a heel, etc.

Focused discussions with Omaha Parks officials brought this topic into an awareness of complete amazement. The "drama-queen" at the hotline office certainly conveyed how communication to a city might end if the proper procedure was not followed. Such things happened "every day" according to her perspective. To ensure satisfaction across the board, the "registration" call was made about mid-afternoon on a Friday. Several call-back responses were received by 5 p.m., with the last one of the day associated with an onsite inspection by a utility inspection firm. A last reply was received just after 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Hours later, the installation was underway.

This martin house was needed due to an obvious bird activity first observed on Wednesday, April 18 when there were more martins than what the house could suitably provide. The birds were limited as vividly expressed in their behavior, and apparent in a single photograph where a female bird was looking for a place while sitting on the rooftop. She was not able to personally inspect the housing cube.

On Saturday morning, one female was attacked and held down by a male being protective an adjacent apartment. Two males were seen and heard tussling over one particular apartment, until one fleed, after some moments of anxiety, obvious in its open-beak behavior, as it looked back at its tormentor.

The new martin castle was up and ready for residency on mid-day Saturday. The endeavor was successful because of a common interest. Everyone involved deserves credit for their interest in helping to benefit Purple Martins, an iconic bird in the river city.

It was certainly a fine time for martins at Carter Lake! We can enjoy the results at the Martin Mecca Midtown later in the season.

Birds Convey Exceptional Value of Missouri Valley Habitats

A wonderful confluence of bird reports for a few-day period vividly express the occurrence of birds during the current spring migration. The special value of the reports is that they occurred at different localities on different days, and most especially some visits to the same place which convey the variance in species and numbers from one occasion to the next.

This report conveys details of reported observations from Saturday April 14 through April 17th, as noted by personal bird surveys and online bird reports. There is no special significance in any particular effort, but the overall result provides a detailed account of the many species now present in the region.

Starting on Saturday — a day of the wandering storminess — multiple details express bird-watching efforts within the river valley and associated places:

• April 14: Forney Lake, Bartlett SWA, Schilling WMA, La Platte Bottoms and Offutt Base Lake prior to stormageddon, where winds exceeded 100 miles per hour and semitrucks were blown off Interstate 29 near Thurman
• April 14: some bird notes from Fontenelle Forest contributed by Rick Schmid
• April 14: a singular note about a female Mottled Duck at New Lake near Sioux City by Bill Huser
• April 15: Lake Manawa, Big Lake Park and Carter Lake to get a Sunday morning perspective of birds at lakes of the valley
• April 16: Lake Manawa report issued on IABirds by Benjamin Griffith, Newmarket, NH, during a travel layover
• April 16: Offutt Base Lake, Harlan-Lewis Flats and La Platte Bottoms as reported by Clem Klaphake
• April 16: terse notes from John Carlini and Sheri Schwartz for Forney Lake SWA
• April 17: a hike about Elmwood Park and Memorial Park places in midtown Omaha
• April 17: a few notes from Forney Lake SWA by Denny Thompson and for the Fontenelle Forest floodplain by Clem Klaphake and Eric Scholar
• April 17: evening visit to Offutt Base Lake and La Platte Bottoms by Justin Rink

It is only because of the variety of bird observation efforts that such a diversity of birds are now known to have been present at various places in different numbers. For most of the observations, particular attention was given to counting the numbers of each species. This is especially valuable for the bird chronicles.

A list was developed from more than four hundred records, with many derived from online, public forums which indicate sightings of significance. The 102 species reported:

Greater White-fronted Goose Snow Goose Ross's Goose Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon Mallard Mottled Duck Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Wild Turkey Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Eared Grebe American White Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Black-crowned Night-heron Glossy Ibis White-faced Ibis

Turkey Vulture Mississippi Kite Bald Eagle Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Sora American Coot Killdeer American Avocet Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Hudsonian Godwit Least Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Stilt Sandpiper Franklin's Gull Bonaparte's Gull Ring-billed Gull Forster's Tern Mourning Dove Barred Owl Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Blue Jay American Crow

Purple Martin Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Winter Wren Marsh Wren Eastern Bluebird American Robin Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Northern Parula Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Louisiana Waterthrush Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Harris's Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow

Add in the Rock Pigeon, certainly present in the overall vicinity, and the Wild Turkeys strutting a block west of Levi Carter Park, so the tally is even greater than indicated.

Especially interesting are reports for the same locale, but on different days, especially at Forney Lake SWA, Lake Manawa, Offutt Base Lake and the La Platte Bottoms.

For Forney Lake, the tally on the 14th denoted 37 species. Only five different types were reported for the 16th, but it added four additional species that were using the wetland. Records of two species of ibis was especially exciting. There will be more wonderful birds here as spring continues its progression northward in the river valley.

On Sunday the 14th at Lake Manawa, there were 36 species denoted, with particular attention given to getting notes on all the birds observed. On Monday, the number was 30, with a similar effort, but hurried by a visiting birder. Overall, there were 46 species determined during both days, which provides a unique tally as all species seen were noted.

At Offutt Base Lake, there were 14 species present during a hurried survey before the storm weather arrived. Two days later, the report indicated 14 species, though only waterfowl were indicated. The overall tally was 26 species, with more songbirds noted on the April 14 survey. There were many more waterfowl upon the lake on the 16th.

A bit to the south, at the La Platte Bottoms on the 14th there were 11 species observed. The tally on the 16th denoted five species, with one special addition a single Merlin. Overall, the number of species was 12. Because of the "partial" closure of the La Platte Road for utility work, some species may have been missed. On Saturday the occurrence of many Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret was significant at the shrinking pond on the westward portion of the bottoms. None of the other reports indicated the presence of any herons.

Though Elmwood Park and Memorial Park are a relative ways away from the Missouri River ditch, the habitats are regularly used by species migrating along the valley. Without a time-consuming walk-about through the green-spaces, the Red-breasted Nuthatch occurrence would not be known. It was also a complete surprise to see two Pied-billed Grebe atop Wood Creek near the Elmwood Park Grotto. Certainly they are common upon the riverine lakes and marshes, but at a narrow creek in midtown is certainly not expected. The woods also are appreciated by other species, and an observation of an Eastern Towhee and hearing a Carolina Wren were distinctive among the period of interest. The largest count of Turkey Vultures is from this area.

Overall, a wonderful variety of birds were seen, and more importantly recorded and documented which continues the wonderful documentation to the avifaunal variety of the region. As spring continues, hopefully, similar juxtapositions might occur that could be helpful in illustrating species and their occurrence.

Further details of migrational movement and numbers could be developed from this set of data where repeat surveys at the same locales were made upon days within a short period of time.

Wednesday started the cycle anew...