Spring Pushes

Spring is coming early this year!  I am ready for the change, but in some ways it seems like we hardly had winter this year.  This made it hard to get some of the normally common winter birds. However, I am not going to complain!

I guess I will start with butterflies!  I have only seen about a dozen species this year so far.  The most interesting being an Olympia Marble.

I saw several of these Olympia Marble in my yard one afternoon!

Their underside is a striking bright yellow!

Question Marks are always one of the first butterflies to show up in the spring.

Now for the birds!  Stuff has really started moving around lately, with the early migrants such as Killdeer and Eastern Phoebes now all over the place.  Purple Martins are back as well and I've also seen a pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows and a Barn Swallow.

One of the Northern Rough-winged Swallows that was at a local pond for several days in a row.

There was a Baird's Sandpiper and a Greater Yellowlegs at our pond and Joseph had Least Sandpiper at a different pond.  This spring we have already noticed a push of White-winged Doves.  Anthony has seen one at his place for a couple weeks, Joseph had one at a nearby farm, and I saw a pair a few miles from my house.

Monday evening, Joseph called to say that he and Anthony had a Burrowing Owl at a worked field near Abbyville.  Bryant and I rushed out to try to find it.  I managed to get a brief view in the fading light, but unfortunately, Bryant missed it.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Hoskinson's Sandpit for about an hour.  I was hoping to see a some Fish Crows, since we had seen them there regularly at this time last year, but I couldn't find any.  However, I did pick out a late 2nd cycle Thayer's Gull out of a bunch of Ring-bills.  According to Birds of Kansas, this is the third latest they have been seen in Kansas!

2nd cycle Thayer's Gull at the sandpit.

So far, my year list sits at 123 species.  Not bad for late March!

Andrew