About Time (Brambling) -- 1/2/15

     During our trip out of the North Platte area in January of this year, my father, brother, and I had the opportunity to visit the Deeds' residence near North Platte.  The reason for our visit was that a BRAMBLING was visiting their feeders!  A Brambling is a finch native to eastern Asia, and this was the second Nebraska record ever!  We arrived at the Deeds' residence early on January 2.  We watched for about 15 minutes and eventually the Brambling showed up.

The appearance of the Brambling coincides with an "invasion" year of Bramblings.  Bramblings were seen in Washington, California, Wyoming, Montana, Ontario, British Columbia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the fall and winter of 2014 and 2015.  This same phenomenon also happened the same year the first Nebraska record was seen too. 

Have You Seen Evening Grosbeaks? (Scottsbluff area 2/13/15-2/15/15)

In the words of comedian Frank Nelson, "EEE-Yeeeeeeeeesssss!"

I have been very busy with my year lately so I haven't had time update this blog as much as I want to.


Now onto the blog!
Several Evening Grosbeaks were being seen at various feeders in the Scottsbluff area in the Panhandle of Nebraska.  Since the Evening Grosbeak was my dad's most wanted bird to see, we decided to drive out to Scottsbluff to look for them and Cassin's Finches that had been seen at the same feeders.
After an uneventful drive to Ogallala on 2/13, we stayed overnight and got up early the next morning (2/14).  We had 2 Ferruginous Hawk along Highway 26 in Morrill County and 1 Prairie Falcon along Highway 92 in Scotts Bluff County.  We arrived in Scotts Bluff at 9:00 AM and went to Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area, where the birds were being seen.  

Upon our arrival, we saw our lifer Cassin's Finches!  We watched them briefly and the Evening Grosbeaks began to call from some nearby trees.  We watched them for about an hour and twenty minutes.  We had a total of 15 Evening Grosbeaks (8 males and 7 females) and at least 15 Cassin’s Finches (7 males and 8 males).

When I got home, I took the calls of the Evening Grosbeaks and analyzed it through the program Audacity.  This analysis showed they were "Type 1" Evening Grosbeaks.  "Type 1" is found mostly in the Pacific northwest and central Rocky Mountains.  I also corresponded with Aaron Haiman of California, who confirmed they are "Type 1."  

While we were watching the feeders, some Scottsbluff area birder showed up and we tagged along with them for several of their birding stops.  Along Berggren Road in Scotts Bluff County we found 1 male Wood Duck and 3 "Lesser" Canada Geese.  Other in our group saw a second male Wood Duck while we were there.

Afterwards, we visited Kathy Delara's house to for the Mountain Chickadee that has been frequenting her feeders.  We waited about 5 minutes before it showed up.  It was very cooperative, even getting within 10 feet of us.

We returned to Wildcat Hills SRA to check the feeders again and do some hiking.  We only had 4 Cassin’s Finches and no Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders.  We also found 1 Golden Eagle and 1 Prairie Falcon, flying by at Cedar Ridge. 

While at Cedar Ridge, I had a 1 second glimpse at a small brownish bird disappearing into some cedars.  I tried to pish it out for several minutes but it never revealed itself. I realized the bird looked superficially similar to a Bushtit, but my looks were too brief and the bird seemed too brown to be one.

To end the day, we went to Scotts Bluff NM to look for the Black Rosy-Finch.  We drove up and walked the trail from the top of the monument until the tunnel.  We couldn’t find the Black Rosy-Finch or any Rosy-Finches.  The only bird of note was 1 Prairie Falcon dive bombing an adult Bald Eagle.

We return to Ogallala for the night. We got up the next morning at birded Lake Ogallala briefly. We found:

3 Thayer’s Gulls-all nonbreeding adults

1 Lesser Black-backed Gull-nonbreeding adult

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler-its face pattern resembled an “Audubon’s” but its call resembled a “Myrtle”

We left and made the long drive to Omaha.  The only interesting thing on the drive was one flock of about 5000 Snow Geese, that was circling low over I-80 near York.

Once near Lincoln, we decided to check Branched Oak Lake for the continuing first cycle Great Black-backed Gull.  We checked the gulls at the marina and found the Great Black-backed Gull roosting on the ice in a group of gulls.

 One first cycle Glaucous Gull was also roosting with the gulls.

 Also, there was one “interesting” first cycle gull that may have been the “Slaty-backed” like gull Noah Arthur photographed.  But this bird slept the entire time and never raised it head.