Large Orange Sulphur!

I was surprised when I found a large, whitish sulphur flying around my flower beds this afternoon. It looked similar to a Cloudless Sulphur but was white instead of chartreuse. Knowing it was likely a southern species I made a quick dive for the camera. A few pics and a quick glance at the field guide showed that it was obviously a female Large Orange Sulphur, a species I've had my eye out for for a while.

Large Orange Sulphur female

While far from the first record in Kansas, this is one of the few modern, non-specimen records, so I was pleased to be able to photograph fairly well.

 Unlike the resident Cloudless Sulphurs, it chilled on a Lantana plant the entire time it was present.

 Here's one of the Cloudless (below) for comparison.

Cloudless Sulphur

I've also had a number of Gulf Fritillaries hanging around the yard recently. These are, in my opinion, the most elegant butterfly we get here.

Gulf Fritillary

 Look at those silver spots!

Gulf Fritillary

It was nice to see a rare lep again since this year had seemed a little lacklustre so far after last years amazing stray show.

Keep your eyes peeled, there could easily be more southern species around with the continuing south winds!

Joseph

Quick Fall Migration Update: We're still alive!

Hi there,
We have indeed been birding the last few weeks, but what with school starting and all we haven't had much time to post. This post will hopefully bring you up to date on our recent birding adventures

First off, this hummingbird visited my feeder briefly back on August 14. It was only there for a few minutes and I never got great pictures, but it appears to be a Black-chinned Hummingbird. The blunt rounded primary tips are fairly diagnostic for this species and the long bill (visible in other photos) also supports this ID. Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised, as this was only the next day after the pewee/goldfinch craziness.

Painted Crescent

Moving on, Anthony, Andrew and I visited Quivira NWR on Aug 21. Birding wasn't phenomenal, but we did happen onto a large population of Painted Crescents. Going from never having seen one to suddenly seeing literally dozens was a bit of a shock.

Painted Crescent

Also that weekend, a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk showed up in my neighborhood and remained for a couple weeks. Central Kansas seems like an odd choice to spend its summer.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Passerine migration finally came to life during the first week of September with a sudden influx of warblers and flycatchers. One particularly good Saturday morning brought a half-dozen species of warblers and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher to the area.

Black-throated Green Warbler

The flycatcher is moderately rare here, rare enough to be a Kansas Bird Records Committee review species, but not anything you'd drive very far for. Empidonax species can be pretty tricky to ID, but thankfully this one was calling, so we were able to identify it with reasonable certainty.You can listen to my recording of the bird here.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Photo by Andrew

We'll hopefully be birding more regularly in the coming weeks as migration ramps up, so stay tuned for more of our reports from the plains.


Joseph