We completed our 40th field season in summer 2021. It was a difficult year in some ways, with the deaths of both Paul Johnsgard and Bernie Beckius during the summer. Paul was an internationally known ornithologist who was instrumental in my selecting Cedar Point as a study site in the first place back in 1981; a memorial piece for him has been uploaded in the Publications section of this web site. Bernie was a life-long rancher who lived near some of our study colonies, and during many of the years we would often see him and wave (and occasionally chat) almost daily. Bernie represented everything that is good about the residents of western Nebraska, some of whom we now count as good friends.
Scientifically, the 2021 field season was in many ways a carbon copy of 2020. The summer was hot and dry, and the birds' reproductive success was once again low in general. We continued to see a hint of later birds doing slightly better, perhaps because they were able to avoid the worst of the summer heat, which in 2021 occurred in the middle of June, surprisingly.