Nebraska Bird Partnership

As its name implies, the Central Mixed Grass region is a transition zone where the western shortgrass and eastern tallgrass prairies merge, and both eastern and western bird species are found.  This region contains the Sandhills, an 11 million acre expanse of grasslands covering the northwestern half of the region.  The Sandhills region, in a relatively natural state, is a stronghold for Greater Prairie-Chicken and is considered to be an important breeding site for the world’s largest sandpiper, the Long-billed Curlew.  A high water table has allowed nearly 2,000 shallow lakes and over a million acres of wetlands to form in the Sandhills, supporting breeding waterfowl including Trumpeter Swan.

The Central Mixed Grass region, located at the heart of the Central Flyway, is particularly important for migratory birds.  The importance of the central Platte River and Rainwater Basin areas as stopover areas for waterfowl, waterbirds, and shorebirds cannot be overstated.  Half of the continent’s mallards, 80% of the world’s population of sandhill cranes, endangered Whooping Cranes, and many other migratory birds use these areas during spring migration. Back to BCR map.