Nebraskaland

The State of Nebraska's Birds By Joel G. Jorgensen, Nongame Bird Program Manager, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission N ebraska's birdlife is changing. This is not a revelation nor is it news. Nebraska's birdlife has been and is defined by change. When the first European explorers reached what is now Nebraska they encountered an array of species that included Carolina parakeets and passenger pigeons. A sighting of either species in Nebraska seems exotic and fantasy, since both have been extinct for about a century. Side-by-side with continual change, there is also constancy. Those early explorers also encountered Canada geese, American white pelicans, and other species we commonly see in Nebraska today. The song of the western meadowlark that greeted the earliest settlers still fills the soundscape across much of the state on spring mornings. Nebraska's landscapes have undergone dramatic change since settlement by European Americans in the 1800s. As humans changed habitats in Nebraska, birds responded. For some species, the changes result in habitat opportunities which spur increases in numbers and an expansion in range. For other species, the changes result in habitat loss, a decline in numbers and a loss in range. Still other species take the changes in stride and adapt to the new habitats. Nebraska's official state bird list currently boasts 461 bird species, and with so many species' populations going up, down and sideways, it is difficult to know how our birds are faring. The North American Bird Conservation Initiative annually releases a report titled "The State of the Birds," which provides a broad perspective of how birds are doing on a continent-wide scale. Generally, the reports paint a troubling picture about the status of our birds. There are conservation challenges that threaten bird populations in North America and around the world. However, national trends may not always match those on a state level. Thus, with all this constancy and change, the time seems right to review the "state of our birds" in Nebraska. The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) may be the most useful dataset that provides trend information about Nebraska's breeding birds. The BBS is a volunteer-based effort whereby birders conduct road-based surveys. It is coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey and it began in 1966. Of the 139 relatively common breeding species for which the USGS provides population size trend estimates based on BBS data (1966-2013), 53 percent have shown increases, 33 percent have shown declines, and 13 percent have remained relatively stable. These results indicate the majority of Nebraska's bird species are doing WESTERN MEADOWLARK BY JUSTIN HAAG 46 NEBRASKAland • MARCH 2017

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