Don't Mess With This Hawk

This vibrant hawk was eating breakfast and was ready to take on the world this morning. Another hawk was sitting atop a nearby utility pole, just being an observer, but perhaps waiting to swoop in and feed on the remains. It was the threat calls uttered by nearby passerine birds during my bicycling past that meant some human sort of attention was given to the situation.

This seems to be a female, because of size differences. A decent distance was kept away from this beautiful hawk to ensure that it could continue to feed as needed to survive. There were a couple of glances that conveyed some questioning about a tall intruder. My presence was done in a manner to never be excessively intrusive and certainly never a threat. The hawk continued to feed on some unknown prey upon my departure along the street. A guess about the food? Perhaps a rabbit nest?

The sheer intent and veracity of this bird is dramatic. It obviously conveys: don't take from me what is mine because there might have some interloper threatening survival. With its sort of perspective, may this bird thrive! The photo is the not the best of those taken but chosen for display because the character. It is the intensity that was captured and something to appreciate. What is surprising is the extent of feathers on the hawk's legs.

Perhaps a reason for the situation is that a Great-horned Owl that was heard during the night in some nearby trees.

A few Purple Martin were moving in the beautiful skies of the morning with such beautiful clouds, that myself and another visitor to the Walnut Hill Reservoir were visually gushing. After we enjoyed our own space as the clouds passed and the sun began to shine, the significance of the clouds were discussed (with one opinion comparing them to facets of the skin, and its textures and subtleties). The value of the green space was obvious. Even the local Chimney Swifts (at least nine) seemed happy as the bird clan, including what had to young of the year twittered overhead. The bird moment of the day was explaining to a fellow aficionado of skies that the little birds were not bats, but bug-eaters that live in chimneys.

Can't forget the nighthawk, nuthatch, a little bunch of chickadees saying "hello" in their merry refrain, robins of course, the voice of the cardinal, downy woodpecker, the mournful sound of the mourning dove. The House Sparrows enjoy the calm of the evening when they can get a fresh drink, once the human visitors depart to dry off and get warm. There was an subtly expressive Eastern Wood-Pewee, and the nice sound of a Chipping Sparrow, as well. A crow was off in the distance somewhere.

Any visit on a hot summer day - because a best fountain in Omaha is here - for residents of buildings is about the water. "IT IS TOO COLD" was a common refrain heard during my late July interlude one day.

Plovers and Terns Thrive on Flood-created Sandbars

Sandbar habitat from the "great flood" have been providing a safe haven in 2015 for terns and plovers as an increased amount of water is being released from Gavins Point dam.

"Water levels in 2015 have caused no issues for these birds," said Douglas Latka, a biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Omaha. Both the Least Tern and Piping Plover have been using sandbar habitat with an elevated height well above the measured flow levels in the Missouri River below the dam.

A notable increase in the extent of water released from the dam at Gavins Point occurred in early July. The higher water level has not been detrimental to the terns and plovers, as the fledglings utilize sandbar habitat that is not inundated by river water.

Habitat conditions along the Missouri National Recreation River this nesting season and in the previous few years, make management much easier, said Latka.

Sandbars used as nesting sites this year are a result of the "great flood" of 2011 when an extensive amount of sediment was deposited, increasing the availability of sandbars with an elevation notably above the river flow, Latka said. Nesting plover and terns have not needed to utilize less than optimum habitat, such as sites that might have been prone to being flooded by higher water releases.

Details on nesting activities for 2015 indicate there were fifteen nesting localities for the Least Tern, and of the 181 nests, at least 41 were successful, and 77 chicks were observed by the research team managed by the Corps. Of the 184 Piping Plover, 105 nests were observed to be successful, with 257 chicks observed.

"These are the boom years," for both species, Latka proclaimed, since ample high-quality habitat has been available. Annual vegetative management efforts have also helped to clear areas where plants might have otherwise encroached to an extent that the site would not be conducive for these ground nesting birds.

After nearly three decades of studies, "we understand the variables between habitat management and water flows during the breeding success," said Latka, This helps ensure that any actions minimize any unwanted "take" of birds.

The Corps has been monitoring populations of both species along the Missouri River since 1986.

Increased releases of water from Gavins Point dam this season have occurred to accommodate a barge which is transporting building materials for a fertilizer plant at Sioux City, Latka said. A second reason has been to achieve a flood level target for Kansas City, which has had a significant influence on river flows this year.

Birders Help Fledgling Vireos at Nebraska Park

Courtesy of Luther Haige. Photographs by Joe Manning.

"Joe Manning and I spent a little time fishing today at Memphis State Recreation Area today while Sam did his usual bird survey of the area. After about three hours of birding, Sam found three extremely small Yellow-throated Vireo chicks (not fledglings) lying on the ground under a tree. [I don't know how this guy does it. These birds were about an inch tall and two inches long. Two of the chicks did not have their eyes open most of the time we were on the scene. Any other person would have walked right by the chicks without noticing them.]

"The original nest was about 40 feet up in a nearby tree. There was no way we could get the chicks back up into the nest. The parents were present and continued to feed the chicks even while we were standing about eight feet away from the chicks. We fabricated a replacement nest from an empty strawberry container (clear plastic with small holes for drainage in it) and lined it with dry grass. We fastened it up in the tree about 10 feet off of the ground (all the higher we could get it without a ladder) with some old tent rope we found in a nearby dumpster.

"The parents continued to visit the chicks and feed them as we did our work. The largest of the three chicks was a little trouble-maker. She did not want to sit still. I'm guessing she was responsible for getting the chicks into their situation. When I put the chicks up in the make-shift nest, that little trouble-maker hopped up my index finger and out of the make-shift nest twice. Each time she got herself in a more precarious position.

"After making sure all three chicks were in the nest, Joe and I returned to our fishing, and Sam accompanied us. Two hours later, we returned to the nest to check on the chicks. We found our little trouble-maker friend impossibly wedged between two small branches about three inches below the nest. I climbed up on the top of the car one more time to rescue her again. I think she was so exhausted from her this last predicament that she seemed very content to be safely back in the make-shift nest. Mom and dad were still vigilant and were busy bringing food to the new nesting location."

Young Yellow-throated Vireo

Beautiful Hawks Raise Young Among Urban Carthage

An appreciated duo of beautiful Red-tailed Hawks living amidst the completely urban scape of Carthage, successfully raised two young this year.

Images courtesy of Greg Green, Omaha Public Works.

The fledglings have left the nest place and have been seen perched in nearby and elsewhere during these mid-days of June. Pesky robins and grackles loudly voice a discordant perspective on the presence of a raptor family in the neighborhood. The hawks are pretty much oblivious to the complaints of the songbirds.

Noted events for these special urban hawks include the first date when they brought twigs to initiate a nest nearly atop a pine tree just north of Izard Street, by the 48th avenue. That date was February 27, 2015. A bit later, the two could be seen perched upon snags of a couple nearby dead trees, keeping a close look upon the place of their future. The tree place was decidedly suitable, as mating activity was observed on March 10th and 14th. The dynamic duo were then homebound as nest cares were necessary, with their breeding legacy focused on a couple of eggs. As parents they gave great care while listening to loud vehicular traffic, emergency vehicle sirens, the early-morning discord of trash haulers and a complete myriad of disphonic sounds. Thankfully no one within the ethnic mix choose to thwart the pair!

The hawks were above it all. During snow, cold and winds, they endured. Early on some mornings, with one of the pair attentive in a tree nearby the nest, their presence was something any bird-watcher could appreciate ... once and again and more times. Some birds in Omaha have press agents, but for the Carthage hawks, they had a watcher, or two, perhaps more, with sufficient attentive interest, and that was enough to know.

Young growing were a glorious sight on some known days in mid-May while crouched or standing at flattened nest, flapping their new wings as appropriate and anticipating a flighty departure. They would soon go away into a new, larger world.

On June 8th, both young had definitely left the nest. A couple of adjacent snag trees had branches where the family could perch. When seen one evening during this time in June, the young looked great as they preened their feathers. On the 15th, one well seen youngster was looking about the hood, while perched atop a house's roof, only a short distance from their now forgotten home of twigs. A fledgling was seen within a block or two of the nest site on the 18th. Both were seen within a half block early on the morning of the 19th. One on a roof and the other perched among the leafy branches of a tree.

It was an undeniably good year for these hawks. They selected a suitable site for a fine nest atop an apartment lot pine. There were no disruptive activities to chase them away. Ample food of various types was available around their foraging range within the city of Omaha. And the young are now grown enough to thrive to continue the hawk's way.

It has been so special to have an opportunity to appreciate and observe hawks dwelling within the neighborhood! Even when they were not seen, just knowing of their presence enough of a because of the vivid reality of a pair of hawks nesting within the block.

Hawks soaring above the streets. One day one of them was seen eating a grackle atop a utility pole on north 49th Street. Conversations here and there have conveyed a appreciation of the mighty birds. How they continue to be a part of the bird life in the area is their choice? They have certainly been a highlight for many past weeks. To be able to see a hawk nest from a home window is certainly something to appreciate, especially while within an urban jungle!

Comment: Some Illustrations of the Townsend's Bunting

Mathew Louis, June 16, 2015

Having previously written for Wildbirds Broadcasting a recent piece (June 4, "The Identity of Townsend's Bunting"), I have examined a few more sources which include illustrations of the subject and will comment, these points contributing to the discussion as well as reinforcing my arguments. Four additional publications, all published or cited in recent years relating to the Townsend's Bunting, deserve consideration.

**** Audubon, The Watercolors for The Birds of America (Blaugrund & Stebbins, eds.), 1993. This includes the two original watercolor portraits Audubon prepared before creating the plate for Emberiza townsendi. One is a cut-out applied to a page including other figured birds, the specimen posed much as it would appear in the final product. The other is a study of the type in three poses; the lower figure shows a crown with what appear to be scattered streaks. (As I noted in my aforementioned piece, the Lark Bunting's crown has scattered streaking whereas immature Dickcissels reveal even rows of streaks.) Also see Audubon's Aviary (Olson, ed., 2012).

Relating to the discussion in the next work I cite, it is important to stress that Audubon painted his from a fresh type, this a bird with no yellow coloration, especially on the supercilium and malar areas (which are white in his bird), thus removing the possibility that the Townsend's Bunting type in its original state may have had yellow feathers which later faded.

Links with image examples of these:

audubonart.com/galleries/watercolors/awc_plate-13a-townsends-bunting/

www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/smiths-longspur-lesser-goldfinch-black-headed-siskin-western-tanager-hoary-redpoll-townsends

**** "Audubon's Mystery Birds." Kenneth Parkes in Natural History (94: 92).

Parkes discusses the type specimen of the Townsend's Bunting in the U.S. National Museum and argues that it is an aberrantly-colored Dickcissel. Having read it, I find that this argument has some weight, but overall it is not supportable. What Parkes is describing is called a schizochroism, a condition of abnormal plumage color as a result of a lack of a certain pigment; hence in this case Parkes is arguing that that pigment is the Dickcissel's yellow, resulting, in this case, in a more gray-colored bird. Schizochroism yields a different color than normal. Given that I am arguing that the Townsend's is a Dickcissel x Lark Bunting hybird, an explanation may truly concern the colors of the Lark Bunting, a bird in which the male in breeding plumage is a stunning black with white wing panels; it is the blackest of the North American sparrows.

I would describe the Townsend's type differently. As the hybridization preserves characters of both species, I suspect that a cross will result in a hybrid with an increase of eumelanin resulting in a darker bird--the "common" melanistic or eumelanic trait, but a phenomenon which does not force questions, which I propose here, of inconsistency that an aberrant coloration argument produces. ("[I]n a eumelanistic bird, the amount of phaeomelanin remains normal but through the increase of eumelanin concentration, the phaeomelanin will not or be hardly visible." Dutch Birding, 28: 88.) Parkes' singles the Dickcissel's yellow pigment above its other colors, and this is problematic as the Townsend's type does not consistently show the "schizochroism" in areas of its plumage where it would be expected. A schizochroism can, from my understanding, be understood by analogy: the plate [39] of Carbo perspicillatus in Extinct Birds (Rothschild, 1907). In this plate, by John Gerrard Keulemans, the cormorant's orbital ring was incorrectly colored red, the same color as its gular skin. In context, the white part was substituted, and in a schizochroism, an analogously similar switch of pigment should result. All yellow feathers might become white or some other color, or all green areas might become blue (in a case of an axanthic schizochroism), but other patterns and colors, no matter how intricate, would be unaffected. While the Townsend's type has a gray breast and underparts, making it feasible as to how Parkes arrived at such a judgment, its supercilium is unequivocally white. Even in non-breeding plumage and immature plumages, a Dickcissel almost always shows a yellow supercilium, usually with a yellow mark on the malar and, infrequently, yellow along the center area of the throat. Thus, there is an inconsistent correspondence of yellow plumage characters in the Dickcissel appearing in the mystery bird as either gray or white, not just one color. It is not unexpected to find in an aberrant plumage some retention of the typical colorations, but I find it irreconcilable to argue that this pattern in the Townsend's would emerge from a schizochroism, given that so much of the head is gray in color (gray the color replacing the yellow of its breast) but not the superciliary mark nor the malar.

Further, the gray on the underparts is much more uniform and extensive in both examples (the Townsend's and the mystery Ontario bird); a schizochroism should only affect a certain pigment, not affect coloration of feathers peripheral to that part. As my comments will further explain, a schizochroism argument applied to the mystery Ontario bird does not hold either. (Parkes also incorrectly described the Townsend's Bunting type as a female).

The question of another aberrant plumage form, a non-phaeomelanin schizochroism, is worth mention, though this argument cannot be supported. In a melanistic bird, the phaeomelanin is preserved, and if it were not then the Townsend's Bunting might show a subtly darker tone in its brown-colored characters, the wings, back, and tail. Hein van Grouw, quoted above in Dutch Birding, also writes: "[w]hen phaeomelanin is absent (grey), only black-grey and dark brown colours will be visible, the red-brown to yellowish-cream colours having disappeared." Given that the Townsend's has such remarkably inconsistent coloration with what a true aberration would be expected to produce, it would, again, be difficult to see how some yellow areas of an abnormal Dickcissel would be white (superciliary mark, malar) while others dark gray (breast), or while some non-yellow areas are excessively darker (flanks, sides of breast), if this was a non-phaeomelanin schizochroism.

One review of this case (Holt; Cassinia, 70: 24) also draws attention to a source which characterizes male North American Cardinalinae as having a protracted development, and that the Townsend's might be such a case of an abnormal immature plumage. It would be difficult to consider how this phenomenon would be so rare when if, as the author suggests, it is understood among all the North American species of the group. Delayed plumage maturation results in a supposedly gradient variation among males, which would appear in plumages resembling both sexes. To construe the possibility of the same in the Dickcissel, resulting in an aberration like the Townsend's, is worth pondering, but I find it problematical. The Townsend's Bunting does not actually reveal any obvious immature or female-type Dickcissel plumage characters despite Parkes' incorrectly describing the type as a female. Substantiating this argument would require a comparative examination of materials which show variation among immature male Dickcissels.

The Ontario bird does faintly show yellow along its superciliary mark, and shows a small spot of yellow along the malar and a faint mark just below the breast, but even a "partial schizochroism" argument is not supportable as the latter yellow mark begs question as to why the whole of the breast is not dark gray, as well as the question of the excessive amount of dark gray appearing not just on the breast but, closely similar to the Townsend's Bunting, also on the flanks and sides of the neck--areas that should not be affected, as they are not normally yellow in a Dickcissel. The yellow of a typical Dickcissel's underparts is concentrated on the breast, and along the sides of the breast and flanks there is often just a weak yellow blush. In this case, and no less in the case of the Townsend's Bunting, the gray is uniform and extensive across the breast and sides. I am at a loss to understand how this would be a schizochroism given the heavy saturation of the gray on the sides of the breast where the corresponding "affected" yellow color is only weakly present in the feathering in that part. Even more untenable is how the gray leads from the breast to the sides of the neck and face and the malar pattern--this is not a consistent substitution due to the gray concealing much of the white of the sides of the neck that would appear in a typical Dickcissel (leading from the throat, as in the image in Harrison and Greensmith (Birds of the World, Dorling Kindersley, p. 339)). Immature and female plumages, both, in typical birds also show this character. Females usually show a white or pale area at the trailing edge of the malar mark, and males have a throat with a black center. Regardless of the sex of the Ontario bird, both white and yellow feathers are affected by its aberrant condition, and should it have proven be an adult male, its black should also have been affected. Thus, its plumage more likely suggests a melanism from hybridization rather than a schizochroism.

The bird that was photographed in Prince Edward Point Wildlife Area was not sexed. It is difficult to tell if that bird, due to its having some characters markedly different from the Townsend's Bunting, would be the "typical" female hybrid, or another male hybrid with different characters. I tend to favor the second possibility (and suggested it previously) that this is also a male, but it is largely my speculation. As I have noted for the Townsend's, there is likewise nothing to show of female characters of the Dickcissel in this particular bird, and its heavy gray tones suggest a darker, more melanistic individual--the melanism here greater and tending more towards conveying a male Lark Bunting association than in the Townsend's. The black/white wing-coverts of the Ontario bird could suggest an immature male, or, possibly, a female, but it is not readily obvious which sex that character suggests of the Lark Bunting parent. Overall, a hybrid with excessive melanism is represented in both mystery birds. Characters of hybridization are present in both, and due to their Lark Bunting parents possessing the melanistic trait in their makeup, that trait is evidently preserved, in a limited way, in both cases.

**** "Townsend's Bunting in Ontario?" Denis Lepage in Birding (46(4): 30--32 (July/Aug. 2014))

static1.squarespace.com/static/50061640e4b09ef22529fe3e/t/541f87b2e4b03f1e8815461d/1411352498913/Birding_Dickcissel_Article.pdf

A discussion on the bird photographed by Kyle Blaney on May 14, 2014 is given. The case is based on observation and photographs; the bird was only seen briefly, with nothing to interpret from its behavior or flight pattern, nor was it vocal. Lepage notes that this individual was considered by some to be a hybrid of various species, and he names the Bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, and the Sagebrush Sparrow Amphispiza [belli] nevadensis as examples suggested of the identity of the parent. The Sagebrush Sparrow (or Sage Sparrow) is given particular consideration, and an image of one is used for comparison. I do not believe that this Ontario bird adequately, if even closely, suggests characters of the Bobolink or House Sparrow which would approach challenging a Lark Bunting hybird argument.

Likewise, a presumed Sagebrush Sparrow hybrid is not a possibility either. The Sagebrush Sparrow breeds in a limited distribution in the western U.S. states, and, unlike the Dickcissel or Lark Bunting, does not occur in great numbers at any one time to make a hybrid pairing event a likelihood. Taking both the forms belli and nevadensis together (as they were long considered to be representative of a single species, "Sage Sparrow"), the Sage Sparrow's breeding distribution is completely allopatric to the Dickcissel's, and the only area of overlap in non-breeding occurrence (Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America) is an isolated section of southeastern New Mexico, south to Texas and the northern extremes of Chihuahua and Coahuila, where the Dickcissel only occurs as a passing migrant. Measurements (males unless noted) given on page 270 from Ridgway (cited in previous) of a series nevadensis Sage Sparrow are as follows:

Length: 139.70--157.48 (149.61); female 137.16--157.48 (146.81)

Wing: 77.47--81.28

Tail: 70.61--78.49 (74.68); female 67.31--75.69 (71.37)

Exposed culmen: 9.40--10.41 (10.16); female 9.40--10.41 (9.91)

Depth of bill at base: 5.08--5.84; female 5.33--5.84

Tarsus: 20.83--22.61

Middle toe: 12.70--14.73

Ratio of average female exposed culmen to average female length: 1: 14.81

Tail measurements of the other two species in question are also quoted:

Spiza americana

Tail: male 55.12--61.47 (58.17); female 50.04--55.12 (52.07)

Calamospiza melanocorys

Tail: male 65.53--71.12 (68.58), female (60.45--68.58)

At once it is clear that the Sage Sparrow has a remarkably smaller beak than any of the forms in consideration (compare with measurements in previous essay). Beak depth as well as beak length in relation to overall size represent a departure from the measurements and proportions of the Townsend's Bunting, Dickcissel, and Lark Bunting. While the Sage Sparrow's length is close to the Townsend's, its tail is nearly half of that length. Ratios to one of the average female tail to average female length (nevadensis Sage Sparrow: 2.06, Lark Bunting: 2.29, Townsend's Bunting: 2.73, Dickcissel: 2.75) further demonstrate that its proportions remove it from consideration. Its beak is of a uniform blackish color, not at all like the birds in questions. As I previously stressed that the Townsend's Bunting and the Ontario bird, despite their differences, are appreciably similar in appearance to be treated together ("what holds in the identity in the original Townsend's Bunting holds for this more recent example, one and the same"), the arguments derived from a comparison of specimens may have further applicability to this photographed bird. Though it may be larger (or even smaller) than the Townsend's, I feel that the arguments may, in part, especially hold with regards to proportion.

**** Peterson, R. T. (Peterson & Peterson (et al)), Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (5th edn. (2002)), pp. 318--319. Both the Dickcissel and the Lark Bunting appear together on the same page, placed under the fitting heading, "Miscellaneous Finchlike Birds." Peterson had categorized both species similarly in previous editions of the Field Guide and also in editions of his Western Birds. The Dickcissel and the Lark Bunting may not be closely related, but the former is in itself treated as aberrant (Check-list..., American Ornithologists' Union (1998)) and the other does not seem to have very close affinities to other sparrow genera. In placing them together this way Peterson, however not by intent, allows for an association of the two species that, from my perspective, inadvertently gives the plate new, implicit meaning.

MET Towers Approved for Cherry County

The Cherry County board of commissioners has vote to approve placing two meteorological towers on rangeland of southern Cherry county, west of Highway 83, and north of Thedford.

The conditional use permits requested by Bluestem Sandhills L.L.C. were approved at a public hearing on May 26th, 2015, according to meeting minutes as published in the local newspaper. Commissioner Adamson Storer voted aye, Commissioner Van Winkle abstained and Commissioner Mark Adamson voted aye.
Both motions carried.

A 197 foot tower would be constructed on private property at section 13, T25N R29W and another on Bureau of Educational Lands and Funds (BELF) property at sec. 36, T25N R29W.

Both sites are now prairie grassland, according to aerial photographs. There are 147 wind turbines proposed for the locality, according to FAA details.

A wind lease from the BELF on September 9, 2013 with the Cherry County Wind Energy Association authorized the placement of the met towers on this publicly-owned property, according to a spokesperson for the state agency.

Mark Adamson and Todd Adamson were listed as board members of the CCWEA in a wind conference presentation given in recent years, and as available online. Jerry Adamson was Cherry County Commissioner and voted to appoint members to the wind committee in December 2010.

The Cherry County Wind Energy Association formerly had a website, but a recent search for it was not successful. The group was a partner in construction of a wind turbine west of Valentine, which was dedicated in September 2014.

"Cherry County Wind, LLC has entered into a development agreement with Bluestem Sandhills, LLC, a project company of Bluestem, LLC," according to a May 2014 news article in the Banner-Press.

Public Project Blocks Pedestrian Passage at Carthage

A storm-water separation project on the north side of Carthage, Omaha, has been completely blocking public access. Construction at the corners of Hamilton Street and North Saddle Creek has resulted in the removal of the entire street and the sidewalks on both side of the street while a new storm-water line is being installed. Access on the north side of Hamilton had been possible, but as of at least June 3rd, a sidewalk closed sign was put in place. People had been walking past anyway to get to the west, but with mud and a trespass on private property, this is not a suitable travel route.

This situation is completely inhibiting pedestrian traffic into Carthage at this point. Anyone living to the south and southwest would have to walk several blocks just to make forward progress of only a block or two. For example, if a resident of any of the many large apartment complexes along 48th Avenue or 49th Street or 49th Avenue wanted to use public right-of-way get to the coin laundromat on Saddle Creek (at 1479 Saddle Creek Road), a multiple block detour would be required. It would require walking west to 50th Street, north to Charles Street and for a block eastward on this route, then further travel along Saddle Creek Road. It also makes it more difficult to reach the ethnic market along Saddle Creek, further west, not to mention getting to the bus stop eastward at Radial Highway. Similar long detours would be needed to get to other places via a south route.

The lack of access is problematic for pedestrian in multiple ways, as churches, businesses which can lose customers and income, as well as private residences that are not as accessible as they should be.

This is a project of the Omaha Public Works Department as being constructed by Roloff Construction. It is quite troubling that this limitation in access due to construction was not considered by planners. Nor was it mentioned in the public meetings. Suitable options need to be immediately implemented to allow safe pedestrian traffic at this area of the project.

There is no information available on how long this particularly disruptive situation will continue.

Pictures of the setting taken the evening of June 8, 2015

Dirt conditions along Hamilton Street just west of Saddle Creek Road; this dirt will become mud with rain

A pedestrian crossing the construction zone

Another pedestrian within the construction zone

A view of the sidewalk closed signage on Hamilton Street

Another view of the sidewalk on the north side of Hamilton Street; even where the sidewalk is not closed, the construction company cannot keep debris off the public walkway

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Acknowledgement of the situation has been received from Pete Festerson, Omaha City Council, who will have one of his staff work with Public Works and the contractor on this.

There was subsequently nothing done to address this situation. People associated with the work just figured that the residents would have to just wait until the street and sidewalk were replaced with new concrete!