Bird watching trips in nebraska

Posted: 02/09/2007--25/11/2008 || Rate this Article: 3 || Views|| Sign In || Register ||Hello Guest

The States prime location in the heart of The Great Plains of North America makes it rich in arboreal birds that live on trees and in forests. Many aquatic species like its extensive river valleys and wetlands that attract migrating shore birds as well. Recreational bird watching is popular in Nebraska. National Parks and privately owned land both offer quality facilities for birding enthusiasts.

Burchard Lake is full of prairie chickens and is easy to access. Mating dances at dawn and dusk are especially artful as the creative males dance to entice the hens to whom they are so attracted! The Sharp Tailed Grouse is another showy mater and their exaggerated forms of dance are one of the main attractions of the Broken Bow area of Nebraska. The birds are very close to the highway and birders must be careful not to disturb the natural inhabitants.

The Platte River area is full of cranes. Virtually every lesser sand hill crane from Siberia and Alaska stop here every spring. They gorge on alfalfa and corn in the surrounding fields and rest in and near small water bodies. They mate as well in most extravagant manner. The spectacle enthralls those fortunate to visit this Paradise in Nebraska. Kelly Ranch on the North Platte River is liked by large number of migrating birds. Bald eagles, whooping cranes, great blue herons and plovers can be seen in the area. The Ranch is spread over more than two thousand acres.

The Rainwater Basin region on the State is spread over a vast 100 thousand acres. Ducks, cranes, geese and scores of shorebird species are regular and raucous visitors. White pelicans and pintails come in large numbers as well. The land just south of Valentine is a wild life reserve. The area is full of water bodies including some 35 lakes. Peregrine falcons, greater sand hill cranes, prairie chickens and grouse frequent the area. You can also see bald eagles and water fowl.

The Indian Cave State Park is spread over some 3 thousand acres. It is home for many forest birds and favored by migrating flocks as well. The Fontenelle Forest Nature Center is a deciduous plain along the Missouri River. It is replete with warblers, grouse and raptors. The Rulo Bluffs is a reserve in the area rich with warblers, thrushes, orioles and grosbeaks. The Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge has songbirds along the river and prairie-chicken in the wooded ravines. More than 200 species live in this expanse that is spread over almost 20 thousand acres. It is a natural resting ground for migrating birds as it is almost dead center of the North American continent.

The Agate Fossil Beds are home to more than 70 species of birds. Ring-necked pheasants and Sharp-tailed grouse are permanent residents geese from Canada are amongst the most numerous of migratory visitors. The Park owes its wealth of birds to the wetlands of the Niobrara River.

It helps a tourist from outside the State to find a Nebraska birding guide who knows the wetlands and prairies well. It is possible to plan a trip moving through the major sites and have a broad sweep of the entire avian fauna, or to focus on a particular type of habitat or time of the year, to see many species and numbers of a particular type of bird, both resident and in migration.