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 […]
BONO updated to reflect AOS changes
Joel Jorgensen | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov | 24 June 2019 The 2019 (fifty-ninth) Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Check-list of North American Birds is out and available for download HERE. The supplement, which is published each summer, makes changes to the official checklist of birds used by just about everyone. In some years, the changes […]
Magpie map revision – tracking the decline
By Joel Jorgensen | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov | 21 December 2018 The Birds of Nebraska – Online has been up and running for nearly ten months. Even though little has changed for what we know about most species, new information for a small number of birds is providing an impetus to update and revise a few species […]
Harlan County Christmas Bird Count Recap
By Joel Jorgensen | joel.jorgensen@nebraska.gov | 21 December 2018 The 11th Harlan County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place on 14 December 2018. Weather was excellent with a high around 43 degrees and a low of 19 degrees. Skies were clear and winds were light all day. Thirteen observers recorded a total of 94 species, […]
The William Townsley Bird Collection
By Ross Silcock | silcock@rosssilcock.com | 11 December 2018 This article describes research into the fate of the iconic Townsley Collection of mounted bird specimens. The research was prompted by the presence in the Hastings Municipal Museum (HMM), Hastings, Nebraska, of an unlabeled mount of a Carolina Parakeet. This iconic species has been extinct since […]
Does “Lilian’s Meadowlark” occur in western Nebraska?
By Ross Silcock | silcock@rosssilcock.com | 18 October 2018 Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna; EAME) is a widespread grassland species found throughout most of the US east of the Great Plains. There are 17 subspecies recognized (Pyle 1997), only four of these occurring north of Mexico: lilianae, breeding and wintering from central and southeast Arizona to […]