Photo Gallery
Jake Mohlmann
Our tour begins in the Missouri River Valley…
… where we’ll search the upland deciduous forest …
…for woodpeckers such as Pileated…
… singing Carolina Wrens …
…and in the evening, American Woodcock in their twittering courtship flight.
The bottomland forest here is saturated, and the perfect habitat …
… for hydrophilic species like Rusty Blackbird and Wood Duck.
We’ll head west through the vast rainwater basin …
… where we may hear the songs of both Western and Eastern Meadowlarks…
…and watch Eastern Bluebirds scout cavities for breeding sites.
The area also attracts large numbers of blackbirds, shorebirds, and raptors, including the ‘prairie’ subspecies of Merlin…
…and close views of a wide range of waterfowl including squat Cackling Geese…
…the dainty Ross’s Goose…
…and colorful Greater White-fronted Geese.
The huge and handsome Eastern Fox Squirrel is found across Nebraska…
…as is the very local Harris’s Sparrow…
…and the rarely seen Mink is possible as they search for mates in early spring.
The Platte River, broad and shallow as it passes through central Nebraska, is a vital haven for migrating birds…
…including the more than half a million Sandhill Cranes that stage here each March…
…roosting in the protective waters of the shallow river…
…sometimes joined by a Whooping Crane, one of the rarest birds on earth.
North of the Platte River, the Nebraska Sandhills cover some 20,000 wide-open square miles.
Here we might run into the unspeakably cute Thirteen-lined Ground-Squirrel, one of half a dozen sciurids possible on our tour.
The few towns in the Sandhills live from ranching—but ecotourism is on the rise…
… and here we’ll look for Greater Prairie Chickens along roadsides…
…and there’s always the chance of a predator appearing like Coyote, Bobcat, or Bald Eagle.
American White Pelicans are the sign that spring—ushered in by the cranes—is in full and glorious swing…
…as well as the emergence of reptiles like this Red-sided Garter Snake.