Black-bellied Whistling Duck

This morning, dad and I went to Cheney hoping to see Prothonotary Warblers.  Unfortunately, the water levels, way up with the several inches of rain over the last week, prohibited us from accessing the area where they had been seen in years past.  However, there was a immature male Summer Tanager and a immature male Painted Bunting singing lustily along the road near Deweese Park.

Bad pic of a Summer Tanager

The rest of the lake was pretty quite, so we decided to head over to Newton where there was a pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks being seen.  When we got to the place they had been seen, they were nowhere in sight.  They were seen in a housing development area with a small drainage ditch.  The landowners feed some local Mallards and Geese, and this was where they were hanging out.  We drove around the area, trying to see into the willow trees along the ditch.  It was nearly impossible without going on private property.  Finally, we decided to ask two men who appeared to be the landowners about walking back there.  They were extremely helpful and immediately said they could take us back there.  We started walking along the ditch, but could not find them.  We had walked all the way back and we getting ready to go look in some other wetlands around the area, when dad motioned me over.  There, not 30 feet from us were the ducks!  We had walked right past them earlier about 10 feet away, and they hadn't flown.  We took some pics, then told some of the other birders in the area that we had found them.  Everybody got great looks!

Life Bird!

They were gorgeous birds!

Other migration of note over the past couple of weeks included these birds:

This Veery cooperated very nicely for pics. 

Willow Flycatcher

Philadelphia Vireo 

We were surprised to find this Northern Parula around so late in the season.  Maybe it will stay for the summer,

 Also, Joseph and Anthony found a Blackburnian Warbler near their places on the 21st.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there it was too dark to find it.  As a consolation prize, we did find a Alder Flycatcher singing and calling its heart out in the near darkness.  It was my 10th flycatcher species for the day.  The best we have had!

Andrew

Cheyenne Bottoms on Thursday

When the cold front brought in the latest rarity at Cheyenne Bottoms, a Pomarine Jaeger, we (Andrew, Joseph, and I) purposed to go chase it the following afternoon if it was seen again.  Well, it turned up again on Thursday morning. And so, we did our duty and fulfilled our purpose.

We arrived at the Bottoms at about 1:30 to find the marsh bustling with bird activity.  We stopped at the observation tower just inside the entrance to get our bearings and scope the marsh a bit.  Our search turned up no large dark birds other than Great Blue Herons, Ibis, and Cormorants.  The Jaeger should have stuck out like a sore thumb.  We did, however, notice a couple of vehicles stopped beside the road up ahead.  After leisurely checking the swallows perched nearby for Cave Swallows (there had been one reported)  we made our way toward the parked vehicles.  After a short conversation with the owners, who happened to be Tom Ewert and Dave Klema, we discovered that the Jaeger had just disappeared out of sight over a dike about a mile out on the central lake.  If only we had hurried over there sooner, we would probably have seen it!  No matter, it could probably be seen from the other side of the dike, and thankfully the road went around the lake giving a view of both sides.  We headed out around the lake, stopping briefly beside a wounded Ring-billed Gull to snap a few pics, and scanning the air and water for a large dark bird (other than Great Blue Herons, Ibis, or Cormorants).  We did; however, manage to find a Neotropic Cormorant, posing nicely on a weed not far off the road.

Ring-billed Gull: photo by Bryant

Neotropic Cormorant: photo by Andrew

Part way around, we met up with Edward Raynor, who had just refound the Common Gallinule (another rarity reported recently).  He offered to try to help us refind it, as well as the Jaeger, and we took him up on it.  We followed him to look for the Gallinule, all the while keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of the Jaeger.  We found neither, and soon headed back around the lake check back where we started.  We had stopped to scan the water, when Andrew said, "I think I've got it!"  We all trained our binoculars on the distant speck.  It looked promising, but unfortunately, it was heading the other direction and soon disappeared from sight.  With our limited views- it was over a mile away- we weren't able to make a positive I.D. although we were all fairly sure that it had been the Jaeger.  Close call number two!

We continued back around the lake, stopping occasionally to scan.  While we did find a Least Bittern, several Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and two Sanderlings, all good finds; the real prize eluded us.  And our time was running out!  It was about 3:30, and we needed to leave by 4:00.  We stopped again (we were now back to where it had first been seen) to talk to some more birders, who told us they had seen the Jaeger about an hour ago from the same place.  It had been back while we were gone around the lake!  While I was still talking to them, Andrew, who had been scanning the lake, sounded the alarm.  Sure enough.  There it was in all its glory, floating on the water about 3/4 of a mile off the shore.  We soon had Edward's scope focused in on it, giving us beautiful looks.  It even took off for us several times, allowing us to see the diagnostic Pomarine paddle-shaped tail.

Pomarine Jaeger: photo by Andrew

Pomarine Jaeger, notice the odd paddle shaped protrusion for the end of the tail: photo by Andrew

What a great finish to a twitch!  It was very gratifying to finally see the crazy critter after several near misses!

Bryant

Piratics on the High Plains

News broke on Friday that a Piratic Flycatcher (an ultra rare vagrant from Central America) had been found at Scott State Park in western Kansas. We wished we could chase it on Saturday, but had already had our "big day" at Quivira planned for several months. We decided to check after church on Sunday, and if it was still being seen, entertain chasing this first state record.

The bird was still being seen late Sunday morning so Anthony, Andrew, Bryant, Myron and my dad headed out that afternoon. We entertained ourselves along the way with county listing from the road, trying to rack up as many county "ticks" as we could, (I'm over 1,500 now!). By the time we were in Lane county the bird life had a distinctly western feel, with dozens of Lark Buntings skylarking along the road.

Scott State Park

We arrived at the park a little before six o'clock in the evening. We headed straight up to the flycatcher spot, where several people were strolling around rather aimlessly; a bad sign. We asked them and learned that the bird had not been seen since the last report we had heard at about 11:30 that morning, AARGH. We stayed in the area and re-found the Western Wood-pewee (a very good bird in it's own right) that had been found the day before.

Western Wood-pewee: Photo by Andrew

After standing hopefully near the low water bridge for a while -and reaching the conclusion that the flycatcher was nowhere around- we decided to make a few circuits around the park. We soon found this oriole, which we first thought was a Bullock's. Since we're back I've noticed that the eyeline was incomplete and that it had a bit of orange in the scapulars and lesser coverts, both pointing towards a Baltimore X Bullock's hybrid. So much for that Kansas lifer.

Not quite a Bullock's Oriole: Photo by Andrew

Anthony, Andrew and Bryant, birding hard

We waited for the flycatcher until about dusk, when we went to a nearby canyon to listen for Common Poorwills. We got very cold and did not hear any poorwills, although we did hear a few Rock Wrens. As we were leaving the park, Myron suddenly screeched to a halt. I was in the back seat and couldn't see what was going on, but gathered that there was a poorwill in the road. It flew across the road before circling back and landing in front of us again, casually flopping up and catching a bug every once in a while. We bailed out and crawled up to it, trying to get good pictures. It let us get within a few yards, but before we could get any really good shots, a honking vehicle came along and scared it (and us) off the road. The driver was no doubt slightly mystified by the sight of four guys belly-crawling down the road in the glare of our vehicle's headlights.

Common Poorwill: Photo by Andrew

The Piratic Flycatcher hasn't been seen since the last report Sunday morning, but Andrew Burnett, a birder from south-east Kansas, was successful in finding it on Saturday. He has some great shots on his Flickr album.

All in all, it was a great day birding despite the elusive flycatcher. Maybe the next big one will show up closer to home.

Joseph