Date: 4/20/25 3:27 pm From: William Flack via groups.io <sparvophile...> Subject: [NEBirds] Mostly Blaine County
Fellow NEBirders—
Yesterday, April 19, Robin Harding and I spent most of the day birding Blaine County, with stops in Buffalo and Custer counties on the way there. The day couldn't have been nicer: mostly clear, temperatures in the 40s and 50s, with only gentle breezes. We were targeting diving ducks, and were disappointed there; however, other birds more than compensated for our failure to get them.
We began with a quick stop at the Kearney dam to look for the Rock Wren that Eugene Huryn et al. had reported the previous day. No luck with that, and nothing unusual to report there.
On the way north, we stopped at Victoria Springs in northern Custer County. No surprises there, but we had a nice look at a colorful Myrtle Warbler—the eastern form of Yellow-rumped Warbler—in full alternate plumage, showing its bright white throat. That's the first Yellow-rump I've seen in Nebraska this year.
Our first Blaine County stop was at Milburn Dam, where we drove part of the way to the dam, scoped the pool above it, and then walked downstream to the end of the property. The dam was open and the pool seemed rather low: in particular, there was lots of dry mudflat showing in the shallow marsh east of the dam. We found something like 20 Greater Yellowlegs, a handful of Lessers, and some Killdeer. Waterfowl were scarce: 2 Canadas, 2 Blue-winged Teal, and 7 Green-wings, with none of the divers that we'd hoped to add to our county lists. There were about 70 American White Pelicans on two separate bars above the dam. Some of them took to the air and circled overhead, where they were joined by a single light goose. Robin was able to identify it as a Snow, but I, with weaker eyes or a stronger conscience, had to call it a spuh. That was a new county bird for Robin, as was a Red-bellied Woodpecker that we heard calling. Not ornithological but enjoyable was a mink working its way along the edge of the cattails.
We hit the North Loup crossing at Brewster, but found nothing remarkable. We then drove east on North Loup Road, which runs more or less parallel to and north of Hwy 91. We stopped at the first North Loup River crossing, about two miles east of Brewster. There's an extensive marsh on either side of the river at that point. As we looked and listened there, we heard a short stretch of what sounded like they might be Virginia Rail's "kiddick" calls. We continued to listen, but they weren't repeated; so Robin got out her phone and started playing Virginia calls, beginning with "kiddicks". She hadn't yet played the grunting-series call when the live bird anticipated it, uttering one series of grunts and then clamming up again. We didn't play any more calls: the series that we'd heard was sufficient to identify the rail, and we didn't want to pester it unnecessarily. That was a new Blaine County bird for both of us.
North Loup Road T-junctions into Pleasant Valley Road, which we took south over another river crossing and down to Hwy 91. Along Pleasant Valley, we found cattle with two or three blackbirds on the ground around their feet, which blackbirds turned out to be male Brewer's. We initially took them for cowbirds, but then saw the light eyes; we decided they were Brewer's rather than Rusty because they seemed quite glossy, but also in no small part because of the dry dusty habitat—if there were Rusties around, they should've been in those nice wet marshes by the river. That was another new county bird for Robin.
Upon getting back to Hwy 91, we ran west toward Dunning. The small private pond on the north side of the road between mileposts 9 and 10 was low and diminished, dashing our hopes for diving ducks there.
We stopped for lunch at the gas station in Dunning. As we arrived, we saw a female Great-tailed Grackle walking around by the gas pumps. That was a new county bird for both of us.
After lunch, the Dunning cemetery yielded nothing of great interest, despite what looked like it might be nice sparrow habitat along the railroad tracks. We then ran west to Halsey and thence north to Purdum, where we hoped we might find Rock Pigeon for Robin's county list. No luck there—only Eurasian Collared-Doves, and not many of those.
We took county roads east and then south from Purdum; not far east of that town, we passed a corrugated-metal grain bin with a conical top, on which several dozen Yellow-headed Blackbirds were perched. It was almost like a Christmas tree, with all those bright yellow heads in the sunlight on that shiny metal top. Nothing else of particular interest along that road, including two more crossings of the North Loup. Upon reaching Hwy 91 again, we headed back to Dunning and thence homeward to Kearney and Shelton.
Robin got five new Blaine County birds out of the trip—Snow Goose, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Virginia Rail, Brewer's Blackbird, and Great-tailed Grackle; her new total for the county is 139 species. The rail and the grackle were new for me, bringing my total up to 143.
For birders working Blaine County, we'd recommend the stretch of North Loup Road east of Brewster, and in particular the marshy area around the first river crossing. There're also some ponds along that stretch of road that might yield waterfowl of interest.
Everything in this account has been or will soon be reported on eBird.
