The Region
Featured Bird
Mountain Bluebird
A common sight in ranchland and other open areas of the Chicken Dance Trail, the male Mountain Bluebird is a breathtaking brilliant sky blue. It prefers more open havitats and scattered trees. Look for them in the Loess Canyon region.
Recent sightings and notes of interest
Check here frequently to see what birds are being seen along the Chicken Dance Trail. Click here to add your own sightings.
Next Last
Posted By: Betty Sayers
A pre dawn visit to Sacramento Wildlife Refuge near Wilcox yielded sightings of great egrets, cattle egrets and white faced egrets and clouds of red winged blackbirds rising at dawn out of the wet meadow like bats leaving a bat cave. The egrets and ibis were roosting when I first saw them, and I liked watching them as they awoke and stretched and reorganized themselves on their roosts. By 7:30 a.m. they flew into the wet meadows, other egrets flew up out of the meadows and then down again into them. I wonder how many egrets are feeding at Sacramento Refuge this month?
Date Posted: 7/23/2011
Posted By: Paul Warner
Caught one of these on film the other day (Grey Catbird). Inside a quansite, didn't seem to know how to get out. Never seen one before.
Date Posted: 6/15/2011
Posted By: Chris Thody
Hello!
I just wanted to add one more birding group to the list. Wachiska Audubon Society is based in Lincoln, NE, and has over 1,000 members. It covers 17 counties in southeast Nebraska. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month at the Dick Administration Building at Union College. For more information, contact the Wachiska office at wachiskaoffice@cornhusker.net
Thanks!
Date Posted: 1/6/2011
Posted By: Timothy Christensen
Bald Eagle, Harlan, Bushnell Imageview binocular & digital camera, aprox 30yds
Date Posted: 12/7/2010
Posted By: Rob Miller
cool site
Date Posted: 9/30/2010
Posted By: Sylvia Person
For the past week, we have been fascinated with a family of red tailed hawks that have been living (or visiting) the ten hundred block between East and West Avenues in Holdrege. We have seen three at one time and think they are a mother and two young ones. We don’t think that they will be here much longer as the young ones might be hungry, as they seem to be screeching a lot. A friend visiting from CA, Jeff Sall, was able to take these great photos.
Date Posted: 6/29/2010
Posted By: diane
HI THERE,from southern Boone county. What a l-o-n-g winter!! I was so tired of walking on packed snow and ice while going out to feed the birds. I had a lot of drifts around the house this year. Didn't have that many birds this winter but did have a few coons and some of them got shot while getting into my feeders. I wish someone could tell me how to get them away from them. They are a smart little animal. I have welcomed back wrens, brown thrashers, barn swallows, and have had numerous Harris sparrows and white crowned sparrows. Today I seen a cat bird for the first time this year. I believe all that is left that usually comes back are orioles and red-headed woodpeckers. I haven't seen my lazuli buntings yet but I am hoping.----HAPPY BIRDING--DIANE
Date Posted: 5/8/2010
Posted By: Nancy Herhahn
My neighbors and I have been watching two Great Horned Owlet being fed and cared for by the parents over the last 3-4 weeks. Two days ago, probably due to very strong winds and a rather precariously small nest, one of the owlets fell out. It was on the ground under the nest. When my neighbor became aware that the owl was down, she called me. I called a GAme & Parks official who told me how to contact Raptor Recovery. Within an hour and a half of contacting them, the owlet was picked up and on its way to Lincoln Raptor Recovery, where it w be cill be cared for and returned to the wild.
Date Posted: 4/30/2010
Posted By: JayDeHall
Here in Red Cloud, birds are everywhere. What a wonderful sign of Spring it is! The water of the Republican River and the banks seem to be full of life. The Cather Prairieland south of town is coming to life again and the birds are such an important part of it all.
Date Posted: 3/18/2010
Posted By: Betty Sayers
I walked the Alma trail last Sunday, March 7, 2010. I spotted many "flat-topped" nests as T.J. Walker advised to look for. I didn't see owl ears. I did see a sharp-shinned hawk seemingly guarding a nest. The air was filled with twitters and calls. I saw and h eard cardinal pairs, hundreds of robins, gold finch, juncos, yellow-shafted flicers, hairy and downy woodpeckers, and ducks. mallards, blue-winged teal, a red-headed merganzer. Of course Canada geese and snow geese and above it all the cranes traveling overhead. Eagles slowly flying overhead alarmed the ducks and geese, and their sounds of alarm erupted as the eagles approached the flocks. I recommend the Alma walking trail for wildlife viewing. A white tailed deer walked across the trail within 29 yards of me. I imagine new flocks and species arrive daily and stay awhile since the habitat is varied and ideal for many species.
Date Posted: 3/10/2010