Monsoon Birding, Laughing Gull and Brown Pelican

With an abnormally wet spring so far, Kansas has been having some odd birds.

A Red Phalarope showed up at Quivira one day last week, so we headed out there Sunday afternoon with a small bit of hope that we would be able to refind it. Long story short, we were a day later and a dollar short, our special feature as usual. We did, however, stumble across a Laughing Gull, not a bad find and a state bird for all of us.

The long lanky wings and large bill are a dead giveaway, even without the other supporting plumage features. Photo by Andrew

On Monday evening the extended family of Andrew, Bryant and I had a Memorial Day picnic at Kingman Lake. I was one of the first there and quickly checked the small lake for anything interesting. I had seen a fairly distant something, driving in, that didn't quite fit for any expected birds, so I checked it out right away. Well, it was a Brown Pelican, that was unexpected. While these are nearly annual in Kansas, (and no longer even a review list species), it was surprising to find one on a small state fishing lake and not one of the larger reservoirs.

It stuck around the rest of the evening but never let us get very close.

These first pics were, yeah, not so great, but thankfully we got another chance when Andrew, Anthony and I returned on Thursday evening. This time, it was chilling on a small island with a small flock of American White Pelicans and allowed us to get within about fifty yards

There we go! Photo by Andrew

The Brown Pelican has been observed feeding successfully by plunge-diving (fide Andrew Burnett), so it may remain for awhile. We won't mind if it does!

Anyway, it seems likely that these birds, (and the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks), were brought in by a large storm system that moved through a couple weeks ago. It may have brought other rarities as well, so keep your eyes peeled!

Joseph

The Great Dip

We had been making plans to go to Quivira/Cheyenne Bottoms for a while, and then a White Ibis showed up at CB on Saturday afternoon.  So, we headed up right after church and got to Quivira at around 1:00.  We birded at various locations as we worked our way up to the Big Salt Marsh.  Nothing produced much, but when we got to the Wildlife Drive stuff started picking up.  We saw three Dunlins and lots of Snowy Plovers that had inhabited the road.  We also saw three Piping Plovers, a threatened species, one of which was flagged and banded.


Edit: Turns out it was banded last summer in North Dakota!

We submitted the tag number, so hopefully we will know soon where it came from.

8N9 is the magic combination.

A better looking individual.

I always enjoy seeing Sanderlings!

We headed out NE 170th St. to head to CB, being only briefly interrupted by a Pileated Woodpecker.  A first for us in Stafford County!

Pileated Woodpeckers are definitely expanding their range farther North and West.

On our way up, we learned that our friend Barry Jones had just been up to CB and had not seen the White Ibis.  This slightly dampened our spirits, but we decided it was still worth the extra 20 minutes of driving.

When we got there, we checked around for the Ibis for a while.  We didn't find it, so we decided to bird the rest of the refuge.  There were vast numbers of shorebirds and we found several year birds including Western Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, and Black Tern.

Part of a shorebird flock at Cheyenne Bottoms.

 We stopped at a short walk-way where there are often rails and sometimes gallinules. I started calling and an aggressive Virginia Rail immediately responded.  I continued calling and it kept coming closer and closer.  Eventually, it came sprinting out in the open!  It moved fast enough that it was hard to keep track of, but we got some decent pics.

Rails are often incredibly hard to see.  About the only way you can see them is to call them out of their thick marsh homes.

Anthony got some really good shots with his better camera.

Photo by Anthony Miller

Finally we had to leave without having seen the ibis, but when we were just about home, I got an email saying that someone had just spotted the White Ibis bedding down for the night!  It was about four miles from where it had been seen last.  We were disappointed, but agreed that the other finds made the trip well worth it.  My year list is sitting at 210 species and Joseph has 202.

Andrew

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