YTWA - 28 May 2009

Work has kept me busy as of late.  However, a few neat things are still around.  Most noteable was this YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER I found and photographed on the 26th.  This is likely only the 3rd or 4th record of this species from the panhandle of Nebraska.  See the 2 photos below:

My yard is still hosting several grosbeaks (Blue, Rose-breasted, and Black-headed).  Here is a picture of the latter two:

Quite uncommon in Garden County, I stumbled on this Black-necked Stilt several days ago as well.  It's rather backlit but oh well:

And lastly, a few warblers are still being seen around the refuge.  One of the many typical sounds coming from tangles and thickets here are from Yellow-breasted Chats.  Although they're rather secretive, I still managed a lousy picture:

Update - 24 May 2009

Here is another quick post with just a few pics.  Enjoy!

CINNAMON TEAL in Sheridan County:

UPLAND SANDPIPER:

AMERICAN AVOCET:

And lastly, we finally turned up a SNOWY EGRET in northern Garden County:

Update - 21 May 2009

Here is a quick update from western Nebraska:

Who could resist taking a picture of a weasel when they can?  Ashley and I found this LONG-TAILED WEASEL in a brushpile:

Several LAZULI BUNTINGS have been in the area as well.  Here are two of them near a driveway:

A good bird for the refuge, a WESTERN TANAGER showed up for a couple days:

Here is a LONG-BILLED CURLEW wearing a satellite transmiter:

Sunset over Crescent Lake:

Lastly, shouldn't the below pronghorn be looking at the coyote instead?!

Buntings, etc - 13 May 2009

A quick update while I'm in town.....

I can't write about western Nebraska without mentioning the newly arrived Lark Buntings!

Oh, and they're not all that rare if you find the right spot on the right day!  :-)

And here is the local Killdeer:

And the same Killdeer feigning injury:

Some other new arrivals in the past couple days have included:

Gray Catbird

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Least Flycatcher

We still have Lazuli Buntings around as well.

That's all for now.

Yard & such - 9 May 2009

Well, I'm back (and with some pictures this time).  Passerine migration is finally starting to pick up here in western Nebraska.

First is a Yellow Warbler:

The Northern Parula I found over a week ago is still around (the likelihood of this being the same bird is pretty high, I think):

Something caught the eye of this Forster's Tern: 

A nice dash of color, this male Black-headed Grosbeak prefers my suet:

My feeders have been a blur as of late.  They have been host to many Clay-colored Sparrows: 

...and this male Lazuli Bunting:

...and to hoards and hoards of Lark Sparrows:

On a final note, I was happy to hear the resident Long-eared Owls hooting behind my house this morning!  Such a cool species to have nesting in one's yard!!

Update - 6 May 2009

Honestly, I don't have any pictures to share this time but I thought I would update this while I have internet (not that often!!).

The field season is progressing nicely here in western Nebraska.  Bird migration has also really increased in the last week or two.  The refuge is just loaded with phalaropes, a variety of sparrows, and kingbirds.  I'm still waiting for the bigger push of warblers however.  

The only bird of note for me was a Caspian Tern that was fishing at Island Lake.  This was a first for me at Crescent Lake NWR.

My yard list has topped 80 species.  Most recent were additions of:

Black-headed Grosbeak

Lark Sparrow

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Western Kingbird

Spotted Towhee

Forster's Tern

Hope all is well out there in your modern civilization,

Cory

Parula - 1 May 2009

I stumbled on this NORTHERN PARULA yesterday afternoon at the refuge.  As I understand it, there are less than 20 records of this species from the panhandle of Nebraska:

Some other new arrivals included Bonaparte's Gull, Forster's Terns, Spotted Towhees, Black-crowned Night-Herons, White-crowned Sparrows, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler (both Myrtle and Audubon's), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, etc.  I also had a Great Egret between the refuge and Route 2.