Fall Crazies

This morning I decided to do some quick birding around our place.  There was some nice action, but nothing too crazy.  The best bird was a Black-throated Green Warbler that apparently missed his flight south.

Black-throated Green Warbler

I got a call from Anthony at about 10 o'clock, saying very excitedly that he had a Townsend's Solitare up near his place.  Joseph and I converged to the location quickly and got excellent looks at it before it flew off to the southwest.

Townsend's Solitare.  State lifer!

We birded a little more at a cordgrass marsh near there where we had seen Nelson's Sparrow's in the past.  There wasn't much, but we did see several Le Conte's Sparrows.

Le Conte's Sparrow

Later in the afternoon, I noticed a bunch of skippers on some flowers in our yard.  Upon closer inspection, I was shocked to see a skipper of the genus Panoquina!  Only one other Panoquina had ever been seen in Kansas and that was also in our yard almost a year ago to the day.  I quickly got a bunch of pictures, which revealed that this was indeed an Ocola Skipper!  

Today's Ocola Skipper!

Today's Ocola Skipper!

We identified the one last year as an Ocola as well, but after the fact an expert who had experience with both Ocola and Purple-washed from south Texas told us that he thought it was actually a Purple-washed.  The more we looked into it, the more we agreed.  So, I guess we'll just have to admit that we initially made the wrong identification.  Anyway, a Purple-washed is very rare as well, in fact, it is much rarer than an Ocola, even though they are both first state records.

Purple-washed Skipper from last year.  Notice faint row of spots on the wing and overall purple-ish sheen

Dan Jones deserves a shout-out for setting us on the right path on this ID.  Here is a link to his very interesting blog.  

Only a little longer till gull season!

Andrew

First State Record!!

Yesterday morning I found an interesting skipper in the lavender plants by our front porch.  When I saw it I immediately knew that it wasn't anything I had ever seen before.  The first thing that came to mind was Ocola Skipper, but I wasn't sure.  I took a bunch of pictures and then went inside to check it out.  Turns out, it was indeed an Ocola!  This is the first Kansas record and also the first record from the genus Panoquina!  Joseph came over after school and managed to see it, but unfortunately it was gone when Bryant and I got home a little later.

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

While Bryant and I were trying to refind it, we did found this Skipperling.  It appears to just be a Orange Skipperling, but the upperwings look similar to a Southern Skipperling, which would be another first state record!

Skipperling sp.

Skipperling sp.

The strong south winds around here for the last couple of days probably brought many stray butterflies up here.  Joseph also had a Texan Crescent and a Bordered Patch at his place this evening, both southern butterflies.  Hopefully all the southern stuff hangs around for several days.  

I haven't done much birding lately, but I have seen some good stuff in the little that I have done.

This Killdeer was killed and impaled by a Shrike.

One of the Nelson's Sparrows that hung around the Sparrow stretch for several days.

Vesper Sparrow in the morning light.

Short-eared Owl against the sunset.  This was year bird #264!

I also had two Common Redpolls in the yard about two weeks ago.  They were lifers, but unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures.  They were also the earliest seen in Kansas by a week!  All in all, it has been a good fall!

Andrew