Big Day: May 9

For the last two years, Barry Jones, the public relations person for Quivira, has let us come along with him on the second or third Saturday in May to do the North American Migration Count.  We try to get as many species as we can in one day.

This year Dad drove Joseph, Anthony, Michael, Bryant and I up there early so as to be there at first light.  It was a very overcast morning, and when we met up with Barry it was still quite dark, so we decided to head up to the rail field first thing.  We stopped to listen along the way, and when it got light enough we stopped at a grove to pick up some passerines.  We found an Eastern Wood-Peewee, several Swainson's Thrushes, and a singing Tennessee Warbler among other more common birds.  We stopped along NE 170th street to check out shorebirds and found a lot of the common shorebirds and managed to see a Short-billed Dowitcher, a pair of Sanderling, and two Ruddy Turnstones, all good birds.

Short-billed Dowitcher: photo by Andrew

We continued toward the Rail field and Barry started playing rail calls on his ipod.  At the second stop we heard two Virginia Rails, but we never got any Soras to respond. We continued to a spot where there are reliable Barred Owls.  Barry can do an amazing vocal impression of a Barred Owl and in three tries he got them to respond.  One even flew into the tree right above us!

There is a Prairie Dog town up north of the Big Salt Marsh that has had Burrowing Owls in the past, so we decided to check it.  We picked up many common birds, but never saw the owls.  It had started to drizzle by then, which was a little discouraging, but we thought that maybe it would force the migrating birds down.  We hadn't done much woodland birding yet, so we thought we should tromp into some of the groves and see if there were any birds in there.  The first one was the Bur Oak Grove and the soaking grass soon transferred its moisture to our pants and shoes.  But at least there were swarms of Mosquitoes there to provide some excitement.  The grove also turned out to be swarming with birds, and Anthony managed to pick out a Philadelphia Vireo, a lifer for Bryant, Anthony and Michael!  There were many other new birds to add to the list, including Blackpoll Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  When we got out of the grove we had 109 species and it was only about 10:30.  We made a brief stop at the Catalpa Grove, but there wasn't much activity, so we went to the Deadhorse Grove after a short look around.  Deadhorse turned out to be hopping with birds, and we soon found another Blackpoll Warbler.  We were working our way along an old shelter belt when Joseph yelled "Chuck-will's-Widow!"  We looked over and sure enough, a Chuck was flying away rapidly.  Wow!

Chuck-wills-Widow; photo by Bryant

As the cameramen were photographing the Chuck, Barry and I heard a strange song, and when we found it we were surprised to see a gorgeous male Magnolia Warbler!  The cameramen quickly abandoned the Chuck and raced our way.  On the way out, we flushed a second Chuck.

By then it was about lunch time, so we headed back the Environmental Education Classroom to eat lunch/ dry our soaking socks.  On the way back we picked up a Black-headed Grosbeak and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  After lunch we had to put our wet socks back on (the dryer did almost nothing) and headed out.

After lunch, we really hit the wetlands hard and had good success, largely due to  the fact that we could go back into the restricted areas.  We found several Willets and Hudsonian Godwits to add, and also found a lone Piping Plover.

Piping Plover: photo by Andrew

There was a large flock of Ibis sitting near the road that we stopped to check for Glossy.  Sure enough, I soon spotted a lone Glossy among the White-faced.  This is probably one of the most overlooked birds in Kansas because of their similarity to White-faced Ibis.  It was one of my main nemesis birds and I was glad to finally see one.

Glossy Ibis: photo by Andrew

We quickly went around the Wildlife drive because Barry had to leave soon.  We saw several Forster's Terns flying around and two Least Terns on a sandbar in the Big Salt Marsh.  At our last stop on the loop, Bryant found three Dunlin out with the hundreds of Wilson's Phalaropes.  Our last new bird on the refuge was a Belted Kingfisher at a spillway on the way out, giving us 140 for the day!

We went by some puddles and marshes on the way out, going out of the way to find some stakeout birds. Our last bird of the day was a Cooper's Hawk, giving Bryant and me 154 species.  Joseph finished with 153 and Anthony finished with 151.  This broke last years record of 146 birds!  Maybe next year we'll get even more!  One can always hope.

Andrew