Sayornis nigricans semiATRA Status: Accidental in spring. Taxonomy: Six subspecies are recognized (AviList 2025), two of which occur in South America and four in central America and Mexico, only one of which occurs north of Mexico, semiatra. The Nebraska record is presumed semiatra. Note that the describer of this subspecies (Vigors 1839), used the spelling […]
[MEXICAN WHIP-POOR-WILL]
Antrostomus arizonae Status: No accepted records. Taxonomy: There are five subspecies, only one north of Mexico: arizonae, occurring in the southwestern USA into Mexico (AviList 2025). This species was split from Eastern Whip-poor-will (former Caprimulgus vociferus, now A. vociferus) in 2010 based on differences in vocalizations and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA; the two species also […]
Making sense of eBird’s Canada Goose subspecies
Joel Jorgensen | 8 January 2020 | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov eBird (eBird.org), the dominant platform used by birders these days, provide birders the opportunity to report certain birds to recognized subspecies. Birds of Nebraska – Online (BONO) provides detailed information about recognized subspecies in the taxonomy section of each species account. In some instances, though, eBird merges […]
Harlan County CBC – 2019 recap
Joel Jorgensen | 17 December 2019 | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov The 12th Harlan County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place 14 December 2019. Before going any further, it is important to mention the big change in conditions that took place between the 2018 and 2019 editions of the CBC. Harlan County Lake had been chronically below its […]
The summer of Redheads
Joel Jorgensen | 8 August 2019 | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov As the species account on the Birds of Nebraska – Online states, Redheads have been uncommon, albeit casual, summer visitors away from their Nebraska breeding range in the Sandhills. This species has also bred a handful of times in the Rainwater Basin (RWB) in south-central Nebraska. Thus, […]
Pipilo towhees in Nebraska
W. Ross Silcock | silcock@rosssilcock.com | 17 July 2019, updated 20 April 2020 Spotted and Eastern Towhees are currently considered separate species (Banks et al 1995). Strong genetic differences between Eastern and Spotted Towhees, including absence of shared haplotypes, were demonstrated by Ball and Avise (1992), although, since their samples were from western and eastern […]