Tracking birds with precision

ASHLAND, Neb. — Using military precision he gleaned from three decades in the military, Wayne Mollhoff now tracks birds rather than the enemy.

The retired lieutenant colonel spends much of his spare time as a volunteer gathering information on birds in the state. He has been honored by Nebraska Partnership for All-Bird Conservation for his work on the “Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas.”

Mollhoff organized a volunteer band of bird watchers to survey breeding birds across Nebraska more than 20 years ago. That work, sponsored by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, resulted in the publication of the atlas in 2001. Currently he is halfway through work on a second atlas.

Mollhoff joined the Army in 1965 and served on active duty for 10 years, including a tour in Vietnam. He joined the Army Reserve for several years, then spent another six years on active duty before returning to the reserves for more than two decades.

In 2001, he was among one of the first military units deployed to Iraq, where he spent two years. He and his wife, Janece, moved to Ashland in 1995.

Mollhoff began surveying birds in 1984 when he discovered an Englishman was asking for help observing birds in the Northern Hemisphere. As Mollhoff looked into the project, he discovered no one had ever systematically surveyed birds in Nebraska.

He was starting from scratch, finding volunteers and developing survey guidelines. He put out a call to fellow bird enthusiasts through newsletters. But there were few takers.

“There are no birdwatchers in most of the state,” he said.

So he started recruiting through state ornithology groups and bird clubs.

“Every bird club I could find I went and did presentations and tried to con them into working,” he said.

Using county road grids, Mollhoff divided the state into a series of blocks. He then picked out the blocks he though were best to find birds in each county and assigned them to his volunteers.

The volunteers provide data about the birds in their assigned areas.

“Somebody has got to go in and see what kind of birds are there and whatever they can find about breeding,” he said.

Volunteers faced challenges themselves. They had to have knowledge of breeding seasons and migratory patterns of native birds, game birds and birds that have been introduced to the area, Mollhoff said.

“Just finding birds in the block in the right season is a start,” he said.

It took two decades to complete the survey and compile the information into book form. Once that was done, Mollhoff was not one to rest on his laurels. In 2006 he started on his second survey.

“The real value of it is repeating it every 20 or 25 years to see where changes are,” he said.

One example of change Mollhoff has seen in 20 years is the bald eagle. He saw his first bald eagle attempt to nest in the mid-1980s when he first started the survey. Today, they are breeding all over the state, he said.

The survey also revealed decreases in bird populations.

“Partly as a result of the atlas, we are finding more birds than we thought that are considered endangered,” he said.

That includes a mountain plover found in Kimball County, where there were at one time 300 nests. Now it is down to one.

“I’m halfway through the (second) program and I can name a half-dozen species in severe decline,” he said.

It is one of the goals of birdwatchers like Mollhoff to recognize population declines and reverse those trends.

“We want to take proactive steps to keep them from being endangered,” he said.

Mollhoff coordinates the volunteers, including 125 in the first survey and 200 for the second. But he also does field work himself, spending up to 80 hours a week in the summer and 20 hours a week during the winter.

“I figured, if you come up with this bright idea, you’d better set an example,” he said.

He has put more than 25,000 miles on his vehicle during his travels around the state. In the first survey, he visited half of the 443 total blocks. This time around, he’s already seen 150 of the 540 blocks.