Quivira NWR 5-27-15

Bryant and I went to Quivira this morning and hoped to meet Anthony, Michael, and Joseph.                                                                                                                       

 We got to the refuge right around sunrise and went to the rail field after a few quick stops.  People had been hearing Black Rails calling there lately in the early mornings.  At our first stop, we were not able to hear much of anything, which was largely due to lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, and cows.  We moved several hundred yards east and heard two calling almost right away.  Joseph then called and said that their plans had changed and they were unfortunately going to go to Cheyenne Bottoms first.  Too bad!

Least Tern in the early morning light: Photo by Bryant

Next, we went to check on the spot where Barry Jones had found a Black-bellied Whistling Duck about a week ago.  It had been seen several more times, but Barry was unable to re-find it again yesterday. The marsh was alive with the songs of Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds.  Unfortunately, the Duck was a no-show, so we decided to go around the Wildlife Drive.

The water levels around the Drive are very high right now.  This hurts shorebird habitat some, so most of the shorebirds are either very far away or very close.  At one of the low water bridges there was a Black Tern that sat on a post and let us get close enough to get some nice pictures.

Black Tern: Photo by Andrew

 We continued around and found three juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons along with the many other Egrets and Herons.  As we drove along NE 170th street scanning the birds, we managed to find a gorgeous Red-necked Phalarope mixed in with the other shorebirds.  One interesting thing about Phalaropes is that the females are the brighter colored birds, whereas the males are drab and dull!

Female Red-necked Phalarope: Photo by Andrew

We thought that we would turn around and try to go with the light to in hopes of getting some good pictures of more common birds.

American Avocet: Photo by Bryant

Black-necked Stilt: Photo by Bryant

Mixed flock of Sanderling and White-rumped Sandpipers.  The Sanderlings are the second and third ones from the right.  Photo by Andrew. 

It was a beautiful day to be out!

Andrew