Quivira Big Day, 2016

May 14th dawned not-so-bright and very chilly on six birders at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge--we were taking part in the annual "Global Big Day" with Barry Jones. We started out at about 6:00 A.M. and slowly collected some of the more common species.The weather for this count was definitely less than ideal, overcast and about 39 F, and we had rather low hopes of beating last years record of 154 species.

 The first good bird of the day was this Olive-sided Flycatcher, not counting the Yellow-breasted Chat and Bewick's Wren that refused to cross the road into Stafford County where we needed them.

 This Tree Swallow teed up nicely beside the road.

 We found a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the middle of house construction. Here, the female is just leaving after making a few changes to the structure.

The male wasn't super impressed that we were hanging around and kept scolding at us.

This Eastern Kingbird in the same grove was quite tame, and let me get some nice pics.

After birding a few woodlots, it was time to head to the Big Salt Marsh at the north end the refuge. Here we cleaned up on a lot of shorebirds and waterfowl, including several Sanderling, Dunlin and most of the rest of the "peeps" around right now.

We came upon this American Bittern standing stock-still in the ditch. It was under the impression that it was invisible and slowly backed into the grass.

This Red-headed Woodpecker popped up while we were watching several Bobolinks at the Black Rail field

 A couple of Black-bellied Plovers were a nice addition to the list, and two Whimbrel a bit later were even nicer.

We then hit a couple more woodlots, finding a few more species including Eastern Wood Pewee, American Redstart and Swainson's Thrush.

We also found this caterpillar, I think that it is probably a Variegated Fritillary cat, but I'm not 100% sure on that

The Catalpa Grove

One last swing by the Big Salt Marsh and a nearby Prairie Dog town netted us two Burrowing Owls, a couple Short-billed Dowitchers and a Belted Kingfisher.

Burrowing Owls have got to have about the weirdest flight style of any bird, it's an exaggerated, swooping bounce.

Wilson's Phalarope

We left the refuge with 129 species, below last year but not too bad. We stopped at a few of our regular spots back home to clean up on a few common species we had missed earlier.

This Lark Bunting was a very nice surprise.

This Western Meadowlark sang from a nearby fence post.

Killdeer

I finished the day with 141 species, not bad for this year and enough to have me finish in the top 100 birders for the day in the United States, although just barely, at #98. Anthony also had 141, but Andrew missed out on a few species we saw later and finished up with 136.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day, and we're definitely looking forward to next year!

Joseph

Long-tailed Skipper at the Dyck Arboretum!!!

Today I went to the Dyck Arboretum in Hesston to attend a plant sale with my aunt and sister. The first bird I saw was an Olive-sided Flycatcher perched in a dead tree right next to the path.

We had to wait a little while to get in, so I strolled around to look at some butterflies on some nearby blooming shrubs. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of Silver-spotted Skippers all over the bushes so I checked them carefully for something interesting. I glanced over at a Silver-spotted Skipper perched in front of me, "That's not a Silver-spotted Skipper, THAT'S A LONG-TAIL!"  Long-tailed Skippers are NOT expected in Kansas.

 I frantically snapped away for a couple minutes before it disappeared. Despite checking the bush several times throughout the afternoon I was unable to relocate it.

 According to BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America Online) this is only the fourth state record!

Although I wasn't able to get a good photo of the upperside, you can see the characteristic greenish body here that separates it from other longtails

 

A bit later, while walking the trails, I came upon this Queen nectaring on some asters. Monarchs, at least, seem to be doing well at the arboretum, I found several caterpillars on a Tropical Milkweed plant.

It was a very satisfying afternoon to be out!

Joseph