Nebraska's Rainwater Basin

They come in pairs, small flocks, or in large skeins to take advantage of the shallow wetlands covering thousands of acres of land. Their loud honking, quacking and whistling fills the sky, greeting each new arrival to a place that will be their home before they fly northward.

Possibly tens of millions of waterfowl descend on the Rainwater Basin region of south-central Nebraska each spring, not as a destination, but as a way station between southern wintering retreats and northern nesting grounds. While many birds follow the coasts on migration, 257 species have been observed in the Rainwater Basin. However, for some species, like the white-fronted goose, the Rainwater Basin has become a critical stopping point for their northward migration. Approximately 90% of the mid-continent population of white-fronts stage on these wetlands.

The Rainwater Basin area stretches from Seward County west of Lincoln to Gosper County near Lexington, spanning 21 counties and nearly 6,200 square miles. Rainwater and snowmelt fill the basins every year, just in time for the waterfowl that will depend on it for food, roosting and shelter. A generous supply of seeds and tubers from wetland plants and corn from surrounding farms provides the required energy for pairing and the continued migration. Later in the spring, these shallow basins warm brew up a protein-rich soup of invertebrates. Few birds will remain in the basins to raise young, with most traveling north to the Dakotas and Canada to breed.

Before European settlement, wetlands were plentiful from the gulf coast to the arctic. The Rainwater Basin was a large part of the chain where waterfowl could briefly visit on their way northward. Today, only 10-20 percent of the original 200,000 acres of wetlands remain. Many of these wetlands were drained or altered for agriculture, making each wetland more vital to the Central Flyway than ever.

The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture--www.rwbjv.org--was started in 1992 under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan to protect remaining wetlands, and restore those drained and altered wetlands to help in meeting the demands of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. The Joint Venture is a partnership between state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, landowners, and farmers to address natural resource issues through various projects that improve migratory bird habitat.