Bird Calendars
March Bird Calendar for the Omaha Nebraska area
by Babs Padelford
Nebraska is fortunate to have one of the most spectacular examples of migration - the Sandhill Crane stopover during March along the Platte River between Grand Island and Lexington. The waterfowl migration is also an exciting natural event, particularly the concentrations of a half million Snow Geese and 100,000 Greater White-fronted Geese in the Rainwater Basins.
Following is a partial list of birds that migrate through the midlands and approximate times to see them.
|
Species |
Location |
|
Waterfowl: |
|
|
Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese Look for Ross' Geese with flocks of Snow Geese |
Riverton Wildlife Management Area in Fremont County, Iowa Funk Lagoon and Sacramento-Wilcox Wildlife Area in Phelps County |
| Ducks | Wehrspann Lake west of Papillion, Cunningham Lake north of Omaha, and Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs |
|
Raptors |
|
| Bald Eagle | Lake Manawa, IA; Riverton Wildlife Management Area in Fremont County, Iowa |
| Other raptors begin moving north during the month | Waubonsie State Park in southwest Iowa are good lookout spots |
|
Shorebirds |
|
| Woodcocks | Lake Manawa, IA (hiking trail) |
| Common Snipe, Killdeer | also arrive this month |
|
Gulls |
|
| Ring-billed, Herring, and possibly Thayer's Gull | Lake Manawa, IA; Cunningham Lake, NE |
| Bonaparte's Gulls | begin arriving the latter part of March - Cunningham Lake, NE |
|
Passerines |
|
| Eastern Phoebe | last two weeks of March |
| Northern Shrikes | head north by mid-March |
| Loggerhead Shrikes | arrive mid-March |
| Fox Sparrow | arrives the last two weeks of March |
