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State of Nebraska

Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta ©Kevin Cole via Wikimedia Commons Website

Nebraska is a triply landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. Nebraska is the 16th largest state by land area, with just over 77,220 square miles (200,000 km2). With a population of nearly two million, it is the 38th most populous state and the 7th least densely populated. Its capital is Lincoln, and its most populous city is Omaha with nearly half a million inhabitants. It is located on the Missouri River.  A past tourism slogan for the state of Nebraska was “Where the West Begins”; it has since been changed to “Honestly, it’s not for everyone.”

Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains region consists of gently rolling hills and contains the state’s largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln. The Great Plains region, occupying most of western Nebraska, is characterised by treeless prairie. It consists of several smaller, diverse land regions, including the Sandhills, the Pine Ridge, the Rainwater Basin, the High Plains and the Wildcat Hills.

The eastern two thirds of the state has a humid continental climate while the western third is primarily semi-arid. The state has wide variations between winter and summer temperatures; the variations decrease in southern Nebraska. Violent thunderstorms and tornadoes occur primarily during spring and summer, and sometimes in autumn. The Chinook wind tends to warm the state significantly in the winter and early spring.

There are a number of areas under the management of the National Parks Service including, trails such as the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, historic sites and scenic areas. Several area of forest and grasslands are under conservation management.

Oglala National Grasslands – ©Ammchale CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Birding Nebraska

Most people find little romance with a land that lacks large snow-capped mountains and deep wooded forests. But what Nebraska does have is one of the most diverse, complex eco-systems that exists anywhere – prairie. Only remnants remain of the tall grass prairie that once covered eastern Nebraska. But as you travel west across this vast state you’ll encounter mixed grass prairie that gives way to the short grass prairies of the panhandle region. These native grasses are laced with a multitude of various wildflowers all of which evolved over 12,000 years ago out of an immense inland sea. This vegetation anchors the sand dunes, which cover 25% of Nebraska, to the earth. Scattered among the dunes are prairie potholes, wetlands and meandering streams and rivers. These wet areas attract a wide variety of birds, many of which nest among the prairie grasses.

The population of the state decreases as you move westward. In the sandhills fifty miles and more may separate many ranch homesteads and towns are sparse. It is truly a wide-open and wild land with a beauty seen nowhere else in the world.

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge – Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The State of Nebraska is ranked seventh in bird species nationally. In 1995 Forbes magazine listed Grand Island, Nebraska as the number one birding spot in the world, albeit somewhat chauvinistically. You will find both eastern and western bird species in Nebraska roughly divided at the 100th meridian. There are also two major migratory flyways in the state, which carry a multitude of migratory birds to their summer nesting grounds. To the east is the Missouri River Valley that extends up the entire state. Indian Cave State Park, DeSoto Bend and many other areas on the river are excellent preserves for migrating and nesting birds.

The upper Missouri is as natural and untouched as the day Lewis and Clark first ventured through it. From Ponca State Park in North Eastern Nebraska up river to Fort Randall Dam it is pristine and an excellent birding area. Across northern Nebraska the Niobrara River cuts through the sandhills. From towering bluffs to rolling dunes it is joined by the Snake River to the west.

If you haven’t added enough birds to your US life list yet, then head south from Valentine into the rugged sandhills dotted with marshes and wetlands. There you will be greeted with an abundance of both grassland birds and waders. Turn you sights south again to the Grand Island area along the great Platte River that traverses the state.

Platte River at Eugene T Mahoney State Park – ©Babymestizo CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This is the migratory flyway across the Great Plains, one of the most used routes for migrating birds. From the hundreds of eagles which congregate during January to the hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes that crowd the waters in March and early April, you will not be disappointed. The annual crane migration is another one of a kind event in North America and a must for all bird enthusiasts. If you stay near the central Platte River late in April you can witness one of the last wild flocks of endangered whooping cranes resting along the Platte River before continuing their journey north.

From the fresh water and saline wetlands, to the rivers and woodlands, and especially the prairie grasslands, Nebraska is a fabulous birding destination.

Contributors
Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 475

    (As at October 2024)

    State Bird: Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta

Checklist

  • Avibase

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist includes all bird species found in Nebraska , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.

  • Nebraska Ornithologists' Union

    Annotated List
    Link to a printable field checklist too

  • Wikipedia

    Annotated List
    This list of birds of Nebraska includes species documented in the U.S. state of Nebraska and accepted by Nebraska Ornithologists' Union (NOU). As of August 2021, there are 467 species included in the official list.[1] Of them, 95 are classed as accidental, 19 are classed as casual, two are extinct, and three have been extirpated. Four have been introduced to North America.

  • eBird

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist is generated with data from eBird (ebird.org), a global database of bird sightings from birders like you. If you enjoy this checklist, please consider contributing your sightings to eBird. It is 100% free to take part, and your observations will help support birders, researchers, and conservationists worldwide.
Useful Reading

  • Birds of Nebraska

    | (Their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence) | By Roger S Sharpe, W Ross Silcock & Joel G Jorgensen | University of Nebraska Press | 2001 | Hardback | 520 pages, colour photos | Out of Print | ISBN: 9780803242890 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Birds of Nebraska

    | By Marc Parnell | Naturalist & Traveler Press | 2022 | Paperback | 280 pages, colour photos | ISBN: 9781954228382 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Birds of Nebraska Field Guide

    | By Stan Tekiela | Adventure Publications | 2023 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 336 pages, colour photos, colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9781647553722 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • The Birds of Nebraska

    | By Paul A Johnsgard | Zea Books | 2018 | Paperback | 308 pages, 19 b/w illustrations and b/w maps | ISBN: 9781609621285 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Those of the Gray Wind - The Sandhill Cranes

    | By Paul A Johnsgard | Bison Books | 2017 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 157 pages, 6 b/w photos, 16 b/w illustrations | ISBN: 9781496201577 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Wetland Birds of the Central Plains - South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas

    | By Paul A Johnsgard | Zea Books | 2012 | Paperback | 278 pages, colour photos, maps | ISBN: 9781609620189 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Wildlife of Nebraska - A Natural History

    | By Paul A Johnsgard | University of Nebraska Press | 2020 | Paperback | 528 pages, 37 illustrations, 6 maps, 1 table | ISBN: 9781496220264 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Festivals & Bird Fairs

  • Nebraska Crane Festival

    Webpage
    Audubon’s Nebraska Crane Festival in Kearney, Nebraska commemorates the annual migration of tens of thousands of Sandhill cranes and millions of waterfowl through central Nebraska. The festival, which has been happening under different names for over 40 years, focuses on environment and wildlife education for its bird enthusiast attendees and also sponsors several excursions to explore the beautiful wilderness surrounding the town.

  • Nebraska Prairie Chicken Festival

    Facebook Page
    The Nebraska-Prairie Chicken Festival aims to celebrate prairie grouse species, the grasslands they inhabit and the culture that surrounds them.

  • Sandhill Crane Migration event

    Website
    There are a variety of bird events throughout spring migration, all of which can be found in detail on the website
Museums & Universities

  • Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History

    Website
    The bird gallery displays over 200 resident and migratory birds seen in Nebraska and northern Kansas. It includes the largest diorama of whooping and sandhill cranes in the world
Organisations

  • Audubon Great Plains

    Website
    Audubon Nebraska’s mission is to conserve and restore Nebraska’s natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.

  • Audubon Society in Nebraska

    Website
    Offices & Chapters; Centers & Sanctuaries

  • Audubon Society of Omaha

    Website
    Audubon Society Of Omaha Office, Heron Haven, 11809 Old Maple Road - (402)-445-4138. This list does not cover all parks and wildlife areas in the Omaha, Nebraska vicinity. It was designed by the Audubon Society of Omaha to help newcomers find some of the best birding areas with a minimum of fuss. The list is comprised of 31 of our favourite local birding areas

  • Bluebirds Across Nebraska

    Website
    Over the years, land has been cleared for housing and industrial developments, shopping malls, highways, and cropland; many old trees have been cut down for firewood. Wooden fence posts that provided nesting cavities have now been replaced with metal posts. With modernization, the supply of natural nesting cavities for bluebirds and other native cavity nesters has been greatly reduced

  • Crane Trust

    Website
    The Crane Trust, Inc. is a non-profit organization devoted to the protection and enhancement of habitats for whooping cranes, sandhill cranes and other migratory birds along the Big Bend Region of the Platte River Valley in Nebraska….

  • Fontenelle Forest

    Webpage
    Fontenelle Forest has a team of dedicated employees and a network of volunteers, who feed and care for the many raptor ambassadors that call the Forest home. Raptors require full-time care involving everything from weighing and inputting their food intake into a tracking database, to training educational birds to go on outreach programs, to cleaning and maintaining their enclosures.

  • Nature Conservancy in Nebraska

    Webpage
    The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. We’ve been working in Nebraska to do just that.

  • Nebraska Ornithologists Union Records Committee

    Webpage
    At the second annual meeting of the NOU, Dr. Robert H. Wolcott, one of our founders, presented a paper titled On Migration Records and On Our Nebraska Records (Proc. NOU 2:69, 1901); which included a plea for better documentation…

  • Nebraska Ornithologists' Union

    Website
    There are so many wonderful birds and bird habitats in Nebraska that a single lifetime isn't nearly long enough to enjoy them all. Nebraska’s Platte Valley annually hosts the world's largest crane concentration, and also is the most frequent stopover-point for migrating Whooping Cranes. Our Sandhills region of grassy dunes and wetlands hosts many endemic prairie birds, including both Greater Prairie-Chickens and Sharp-tailed Grouse.

  • Nebraska Partnership for All-Bird Conservation

    Webpage
    Partners representing conservation, agriculture, business, and academia are working together to create and implement a shared vision for Nebraska bird conservation.

  • Wachiska Audubon Society

    Website
    For 30 years Wachiska Audubon has accomplished a lot on behalf of birds, wildlife habitat preservation, responsible urban development and support of nature education for children and adults. Wachiska Audubon is a local chapter of the National Audubon Society, serving 17 Southeast Nebraska Counties. It is one of five such chapters in Nebraska…
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • * Protected areas of Nebraska

    InformationSatellite View
    Parks, aboreta, trails, etc...

  • BS IBA Rowe Sanctuary

    InformationSatellite View
    Rowe Sanctuary has been owned and managed by the National Audubon Society since 1974. Located along the Platte River in southcentral Nebraska, the 1,447-acre sanctuary contains 2.5 miles of river channel, wet meadows, and some agricultural fields. Public hiking trails wind through riparian areas and along the banks of the Platte. Every year from mid-February to early April, the Platte River in central Nebraska is the destination for more than 500,000 Sandhill Cranes during their northward migration, roughly 80 percent of the world's population. At the height of the migration in late March, Rowe Sanctuary can host as many as 70,000 cranes nightly. This is one of the highest concentrations of cranes in the world.

  • IBA Missouri National Recreational River

    InformationSatellite View
    This IBA is a 59-mile long section of the Missouri River stretching from Gavins Point Dam on the eastern edge of Lewis and Clark Lake to Ponca, Nebraska. Covering over 33,000 acres, this section -- with its wide, meandering channel, shifting sandbars, and secondary channels -- contains some of the last forested floodplain and floodplain wetland habitats on the river. The Nebraska side of the river ranges from nearly level floodplain to steep, tree-covered bluffs. Riverbanks vary from flat, sandy beaches to vertical faces 10 to 15 feet high. This landscape has backwater marshes, open sandbars, and cottonwood forests that provide habitat for wildlife.

  • IBA North Platte River Valley

    InformationSatellite View
    The North Platte River Valley (NPRV) in southwest Nebraska encompasses Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area (LM), Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area (LO), and Cedar Point Biological Station (CP). There are several potential IBAs in the vicinity, including Ash Hollow State Historical Park and Clear Creek Wildlife Management Area. The large water areas and accompanying habitat at these two recreation sites have pushed the bird count to 313 species. The lakes lie near the middle of the east/west faunal transition zone in the Great Plains. Various riparian forests of nearby rivers provide movement corridors for both eastern and western species.

  • NC Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center

    WebpageSatellite View
    This is an information blog where we report on happenings and events related to the Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center. We are located in Central Nebraska on the Platte River and provide a place where people can connect to the river and the prairie environment. We offer sandhill crane viewing tours and wildlife viewing information year round and during Nebraska's spring migration.

  • NC Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center

    WebsiteSatellite View
    Audubon established Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center in 1998 on the site of the former O’Brien ranch approximately 20 minutes southwest of Lincoln, Nebraska. This now 808-acre tallgrass prairie nature preserve offers over three miles of walking trails, wetlands, wildflowers and grasses. In its midst more than 210 species of birds, 370 species of plants, and other wildlife dwell side-by-side with historic 19th-century wagon ruts in the lovely prairie vista….

  • NS Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary

    WebsiteSatellite View
    Lesser Sandhill Cranes converge upon our area every spring. Sanctuary staff members and volunteers conduct blind trips every year during March and early April. The Iain Nicolson Audubon Center, set along the beautiful Platte River, is the second largest straw bale constructed building in the United States. This education/visitor center not only provides office space for the staff, but also has a classroom/conference room, educational displays, a viewing area of the river and much more. This multi-purpose building is available for rent for business meetings or special events…

  • Nebraska Birding Trails

    InformationSatellite View
    Ask almost any American birder to associate Nebraska with a single bird species, and the likely response will be "cranes!" It is true that Nebraska’s Platte Valley annually hosts the largest concentration of sandhill cranes occurring anywhere in the world, a half-million or so, and is the most often used stopover point for whooping cranes between their wintering and breeding grounds…

  • Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

    Facebook PageSatellite View
    The mission of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is stewardship of the state's fish, wildlife, park, and outdoor recreation resources in the best long-term interests of the people and those resources.
Sightings, News & Forums
Guides & Tour Operators

  • Naturalist Journeys

    Tour Operator
    Nebraska's Platte River and surrounding sandhills play host to an incredible migration spectacle each year as hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes descend upon the river ahead of their flight to breeding grounds in Canada, Alaska, and even Siberia. Our Nebraska birding tours are timed perfectly to witness crane and Snow Geese migration.

  • Prairie Chicken Dance Tours

    Local Tour Operator
    The Prairie Chicken Dance Tours were started in 2012 by Red Willow County Visitors Bureau in McCook, Nebraska. Join early morning bird watchers to see Southwest Nebraska’s Greater Prairie Chickens strut their stuff in a spectacular show each spring!

  • Prairie Wind Birding Tours

    Local Tour Operator
    About Our Kearney, Nebraska Bird Tours Experience the exciting Greater Prairie Chicken dancing and booming with-in yards of your blind. You will be driven by our experienced guide about 1 mile to the lek. Enjoy comfortable, padded seating in our viewing blinds with room for extensive camera equipment, perfect for bird enthusiasts and photographers alike.

  • Ventures Birding

    Tour Operator
    Watching the morning flight of Sandhill Cranes at Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte River in Nebraska is one of North America’s birding must-dos and will certainly be a highlight of this tour. As these Sandhills are on their way north to breed, some individuals may even begin to dance as they reestablish their pair bonds prior to nesting...

  • WINGS

    Tour Operator
    Nebraska: The Sandhills and the Platte River Sandhill Cranes and Prairie Chicken
Trip Reports

  • 2018 [03 March] - Rick Wright

    PDF Report
    Birders are often accused of being obsessed with the singular, the unusual, the rare. Our short March week in Nebraska offered us plenty of that. Most notable, perhaps, was an early-arriving Whooping Crane, which we were fortunate enough to see not once but twice, first on a field with its gray cousins on our arrival along the central Platte River on the second day of the tour, and then, thanks to Danny’s eagle eye, at roost on our last day among the tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes in the shallows of the river just upstream from the famous Alda Bridge.

  • 2020 [03 March] - Ed Pembleton - Platte River Cranes

    PDF Report
    At the nature center feeders including a White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker and Black-capped Chickadee drew our attention. When we entered the center, Kevin promptly encouraged us to look out the south window where a pair of Ring-necked Pheasants was sparing along the trail. Apparently they were challenging one another for dominance as part of their breeding ritual.

  • 2022 [03 March] - Dave Kreuper

    PDF Report
    ...We scored with NINE Short-eared Owls flying around us for 20 minutes, and then several Rough-legged Hawks and one obliging Ferruginous Hawk. To round out the raptor spectacle we also found a Merlin, America’s second smallest falcon species...

  • 2023 [03 March] - Kent Skaggs

    PDF Report
    ...While Sandhill Cranes are the primary focus of this tour, there are plenty of other bird species that can be seen when the cranes stage along the Platte River during the month of March. South of the Platte River lies the Rainwater Basin, which is characterized by shallow playa wetlands that become wet when there is adequate snow melt and spring rains. These seasonal wetlands can host millions of waterfowl during the spring migration, including three to six million Snow Geese (large numbers of Ross’s Geese migrate with the Snow Geese as well), four million Mallards, 900,000 Greater White-fronted Geese and 900,000 Northern Pintail. There are at least an additional 20 species of waterfowl that can be seen in southcentral Nebraska during March...

  • 2024 [03 March] - Kent Skaggs

    PDF Report
    Annotated list
Places to Stay

  • Shepherd's Inn B&B

    Accommodation
    Enjoy a peaceful retreat to the country on this rural Nebraska farmstead. Watch the golden sun sink into the hills or gaze into the star-studded heavens without the glare of city lights. Catch the early-morning rays, listen to the birds singing or spend a lazy afternoon swinging on the lawn swing as you soak in the fresh country air…

  • Whispering Pines B&B

    Accommodation
    There is lots of space for strolling. If you`re a bird watcher, there are many around. The butterfly bushes attract many species and deer may be glimpsed in the evening as they browse…
Other Links

  • Chicken Dance Trail

    Information
    The idea of a Web site that would encourage birders from all over the world to discover the unique birding habitats in south central Nebraska came easily to Angus Garey and Don Brockmeier. Both avid birders, they knew that Nebraska has something special to offer both the serious and the not

  • Nebraska Birding Guide

    Website
    We’re a collaborative group of conservationists, ecologists and bird enthusiasts with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, working to grow resources for birders across the state and country.

  • Nebraska Metro Birding

    Website
    After birding the Omaha metro area for some 30 years, I find I can locate a good variety of birds most any time of the year. Spring and fall are the peak seasons for migrating passerines - warblers, vireos, flycatchers and tanagers - through the wooded Missouri River valley. From north to south, good locations are places like Boyer Chute, Neale Woods, Hummel and Dodge Park, Fontenelle Forest and Schilling WMA. The Lincoln metro area has some excellent locations for waterfowl and gull migration around the numerous lakes of Lancaster County - Branched Oak Lake, Pawnee Lake and Holmes Lake to name a few. In addition, the Spring Creek Prairie offers good possibilities of seeing such prairie birds as Henslow's Sparrow, Dickcissel and Greater Prairie Chickens…

  • Rainwater Basin

    Website
    In the wetlands of the Rainwater Basin and across Nebraska’s mixed-grass prairies, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture partners achieve habitat conservation through cooperation and sound science. Landowners, conservation organizations and government agencies work together through Joint Venture projects and programs to provide habitat for millions of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wildlife in this highly productive agricultural landscape.

  • Sandhills Journey Birding

    Website
    Birders from across the country flock to Nebraska for the extraordinary Sandhill Crane migration. However, the Sandhills Journey has so much more to offer avid birdwatchers.

  • Scotts Bluff County Birding

    Webpage
    Western Nebraska is a great place to bird. Where east meets west, we get many ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ bird species here.

  • Wild Bird Habitat Store

    Website
    The Wild Bird Habitat Store opened its doors on October 1st, 1993 in Lincoln, Nebraska by Dave Titterington. The vision statement of WBH at that time is the same belief that remains today - The Wild Bird Habitat Store is committed to providing information so people will have a successful and rewarding backyard bird feeding program that will last a lifetime, and be expanded to future generations. WBHs belief is that when people successfully attract wildlife to their backyards, it will generate awareness for other wildlife beyond the limits of their yards, state lines, and national borders. WBHs primary interest is the conservation of nature. We strive to accomplish this through offering a variety of backyard wildlife products at competitive prices, support services on the use of those products, and education of our natural communities.

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