2025 Bird Breeding Season

Every mid-May through mid-July since 2015, the Crane Trust science team has been conducting breeding bird surveys throughout all the habitat types found on Crane Trust property. This year we conducted 87 surveys and found 110 different bird species! There were many species of note including Henslow’s Sparrow, Piping Plovers, Least Terns, Peregrine Falcons, Lesser Yellowlegs, Blue Grosbeak, Wilson’s Snipes, and Wilson’s Phalaropes just to name a few.

Henslow’s Sparrows are always a fun find as they are very inconspicuous birds with a short and soft tick for a call. Additionally, they are very particular birds preferring very tall and dense grass, with enough structure (forbs or standing dead grasses) to perch, and no grazing. Since many of the remaining grasslands in their range are working lands and are regularly grazed or hayed, this bird is one of the many declining grassland bird species as their preferred habitat is dwindling.

This summer was unique as when birds were establishing their nests and territories, conditions were fairly dry. Later into the summer we experienced many heavy rainfalls that filled the river and our wet meadows. In my 7 years of doing these surveys I’ve seen many variations of summer hydrologic conditions which often lead to slight variations of the breeding bird community. For example, sedge wrens and swamp sparrows often use our wet meadows in wetter summers but they were mostly absent from our surveys this year. However, recently we had a wet meadow survey with multiple Wilson’s Snipes calling in the distance (a very fun call! I recommend looking it up.) which we have not heard very regularly, if at all, the last few summers. Additionally, we likely had at least 3 Wilson’s Phalarope nests in our wet meadows this year. When we walked through the wet meadows we would regularly have 4-6 Phalaropes flying above us, investigating the possible intruders to their territory. Wilson’s Snipes and Phalaropes are likely not to stop here if conditions are not wet enough as both prefer more marsh-like habitat and are at the very southern edge of their breeding range.

We also saw successful nests of Least Terns and Piping Plovers which are both species of
concern. We actually seemed to have many nesting Least Terns in the area as we regularly saw them fishing or flying over at multiple spots on property.

Overall, this breeding season was a great one with some fun surprises. We will add this year’s data to the past 10 years of data which will allow us to analyze long term trends and patterns between the environment, management, and the bird community. For example, we’re currently working on habitat analysis for Bobolinks using 11 years of habitat and bird data. We will continue to gather data on birds and the rest of the ecosystem throughout the year and for years to come.

Below is a species list from our breeding surveys listed from most frequently seen to least frequently seen on survey.

Forster’s Tern
Great-tailed Grackle
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Green-winged Teal
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Turkey Vulture
Cedar Waxwing
Double-crested Cormorant
Lark Bunting
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Red-eyed Vireo
Sora
Willet
American Avocet
Blue Grosbeak
Common Nighthawk
Eastern Phoebe
Great Horned Owl
Great Egret
Greater Prairie-Chicken
Hairy Woodpecker
Henslow’s Sparrow
Least Bittern
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Mourning Dove
Osprey
Pied-billed Grebe
Redhead
Sedge Wren
Tennessee Warbler
Western Cattle Egret
Western Kingbird