1986 Fall Field Day

The 1986 Fall Field Day was held at the 4-H Camp at Halsey National Forest on 4 and 5 October. The cloudy, rainy weather, which had been rather general over the state the previous few days, cleared up (the last rain at Halsey was late Friday night), and Saturday and Sunday were clear, which pleased the 51 who attended. Of the rare bird reports submitted, the Lesser Goldfinch, by Jim Minyard, was ranked first, and the Laughing Gull, by Paul and Karla Kaufman, the Prairie-Chickens at Omaha, by Douglas Fritz, and the King Rail, by Wayne Mollhoff, were ranked next. Gary Lingle was reelected and Tom Labedz was elected to the Records Committee. At the Sunday count the members present went on record against the spring goose season, and the proposed season on Sandhill Cranes. The Clark’s Grebe (NBR 54:64) was on display, and so was a Common Poorwill with a broken wing, picked up in Hall County and on its way to Lincoln to see if the Raptor Rehabilitation Center could mend it. And birds were netted and banded by Ruth Green and her crew. Sixty-nine species were recorded on or immediately adjacent to the Forest, and another 18 were recorded by parties that went up to Elsmere. The 69 count compares to 72 and 81 in 1985 and 1984, possibly because of the weather, or the fewer observers