Johnson Lake

There’s something I don’t know, invigorating about early morning in Nebraska. The air is clean and bracing with the scent of sage and water and things growing. As we load the car with binoculars, cameras, water, guidebooks and other necessities for the day’s adventure, the sun is just coming up over Johnson Lake, one of a number of surprisingly beautiful lakes in this part of Nebraska. The air is alive with bird calls, some familiar, some strange and exotic.

Elwood Reservoir

We skirt around the lake to the north and east and pick up U.S. 283 south to Elwood, a town with its own water feature – the Elwood Reservoir – nearby. Elwood is just waking up when we roll through, turning west on Nebraska 23 toward Eustis.

The area around Eustis is studded with deep, winding canyons and spectacular views of sky, canyon and tablelands.

East, Middle and West Canyons

Straight south on Eustis’ main street, across the railroad tracks, the paving quickly gives way to gravel and within a few moments we reach a fork in the road.There are three sparsely-populated canyons south of Eustis – imaginatively named East Canyon, Middle Canyon and West Canyon – providing a range of habitat and a wide variety of birds at almost any time of the year.

We head first toward West Canyon. Before we’ve driven a hundred yards, we make a sighting common in this area but rare elsewhere: wild turkey. A flock of about eight hens and toms cross the road unconcernedly in front of us. Populations of these North American natives were seriously threatened in the 19th and early 20th Century, but stocking programs have been successful and populations are on the rise.

In the spring of each year this is good havitat for the Greater Prairie Chicken. When it’s still, you can hear them a long way off, as much as a mile. Just get out of your car and listen for the call – it’s a very distinctive booming sound – and follow the sound back to where they are.

Farm Ponds and Abandoned Properties

About five miles down the West Canyon road, you’ll start to see farm ponds, which are often great habitat for migrating water fowl and shore birds. We stop near one and see a small flock of mallards feeding and resting, but it’s not uncommon to see teal, coot, common goldeneye and many other species in this area, depending on the time of year. Since most of the ponds are on private land it’s good etiquette to ask permission of the landowner before venturing off the road.

We branch off down a narrower side road and drive down to a creek bottom thick with giant cottonwood trees. These big deciduous trees growing along creek bottoms are a great place to look for cavity dwellers such as bluebirds, barn owls, shrikes, wood ducks and woodpeckers. The plum thickets in the barrow pits are also often good places for bird watching, with the birds almost right at eye level.