Eclipse

On Sunday night, there was a supermoon combined with an eclipse.  The last time this happened was in 1982 and it won't happen again until 2033.  I decided to go out and take some pictures, but due to a major bone-head move I didn't get any while it was full.  Anyway, here they are!

I now wish I had stayed up until it was completely over, but sleep is important too:)

I think this is only the fourth or fifth eclipse I have ever seen, but this was definitely the most fun one for me!

Andrew

Tails and Terns

When our youth group went camping this weekend at Kanopolis Reservoir Anthony and I jumped at the chance to go birding in a different part of the state.

We arrived fairly late Friday evening and didn't really have a chance to go birding until late Saturday morning, when we recruited another guy to hiking with us on the Horsethief Canyon trail. He soon got tired of following us all over the country and stopped, sensibly, with a magazine to read. Anthony and I continued hiking over very rough terrain, hoping to reach a point in the lake where we had seen a large flock of gulls. After perhaps an hour we got there, only to find that there were only Franklin's and a few Ring-billed Gulls.

Franklin's Gull

 We kept scanning, however, and soon found a small group of terns within the larger flock. Most of them were classic Forster's, with isolated dark eye patches and pale wingtips. There was one in breeding plumage, which struck us as odd, since all the rest were in non-breeding plumage. It soon dawned upon us that it was actually a Common Tern, a lifer!

Common Tern (center). Note the gray belly and extensively dark primaries. Although not apparent in this photo, the bill was dark red with an extensive dark tip. Photo by Anthony

My poor photo of two of the Common Terns. Notice the diagnostic dark carpal bar on the non-breeding individual on the right.

A bit more scanning turned up two more Commons, these in non-breeding or juvenile plumage. In a valiant attempt to get better pics I waded out to my waist, all to no avail as I was still too far away for good photos.

---

We reluctantly started back, groaning at the fact that we had nearly three miles of hiking to get back to camp. The misery was offset when, part way back, I noticed an unfamiliar butterfly. It was bright orange like a Sleepy Orange, but had black only on the front corners of its wings. I not-so-casually mentioned that it might be a Tailed Orange and sprinted off up the sumac-covered slope to try and photograph it. We soon succeeded and confirmed our suspicions, it was a Tailed Orange! Luckily it was quite cooperative, letting us get great pics.

I encouraged Anthony to try to get flight shots, since it was not markedly different from a Sleepy Orange on the underside. I failed miserably on this, but Anthony was successful in getting some great photos of this seventh state record.

Along with the limited black in the wings, the wing shape is also different from Sleepy Orange. Tailed has distinctly "squared-off" wings, unlike the Sleepy's more rounded wingtips. Photo by Anthony

It seemed that every patch of exposed rock had its own Prairie Fence Lizard. This one sat quietly pondering life, which turned out to be a small grasshopper, which it caught and ate.



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

Rufous Delight

I must admit I was a bit doubtful one evening last week when my sister hollered that there was a Rufous Hummingbird at the feeder, but a quick dive to the window confirmed her suspicions. It was indeed an immature male Rufous! I made another dive for the camera, but by the time I was back at the window it had left. I waited patiently and it soon appeared at our other feeder, where I was able to get some decent pics. Yes! A quality year-bird and only the second ever for my yard!

To be honest,  I couldn't confidently eliminate Allen's Hummingbird with these views, but with one previous state record what are the odds?

To my great surprise an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird soon joined the Rufous. I have only had three or four Rubies at my feeder this fall so far, so this was a pleasant sight. It was also the first time I have ever had two species of hummers at once!

Andrew and Anthony soon showed up to see their third Reno Co hummer of the fall. (The third was Bryant and Andrew's Black-chinned a couple weeks ago). Luckily for them it was still sitting in the tree when they arrived. Surprisingly, the male Ruby right next to it didn't seem bothered by the Rufous casually sitting a few inches away. More typically, the adult male would have bullied the immature away from the feeder. Perhaps it was just too tired from a long flight. Who knows?

Joseph

Blue-winged Warbler

This morning I woke up early and decided to go birding on Frank Blodgett's land about a mile away from our house.  It was a perfect morning, cool and clear, and I was feeling like it might be a pretty good day for the birds.  When I got the at a little after 7:00, there was a lot of activity.  Unfortunately, most of it was common resident birds.  I was rather disappointed that there were so few birds, and the only thing that was very interesting was a Philadelphia Vireo.  I was watching a Trail's Flycatcher feeding in a locust tree, when a small, bright yellow bird flew in.  I saw that it had white undertail coverts and immediately thought of a Prothonotary Warbler, but I then I saw that it had a black eye-line and blue wings with white wing-bars.  BLUE-WINGED WARBLER!  I frantically began snapping pictures and trying to call Bryant.  It kept feeding in the same tree for a while, and then disappeared.  Luckily though, we were able to find it again when Bryant came.  This is a casual visitant in our area of Kansas and it is on the KBRC review list for this part of the state as well.  Anthony and Michael came down about two hours later, and were able to see it.  Unfortunately, when Joseph came over this evening he couldn't refind it.
  

Blue-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

While we were watching it we found a nice flock that also had Black-throated Green Warbler, a year bird.

Black-throated Green Warbler

I also had a nice Phaon Crescent that posed for me.

Phaon Crescent 

This was only the second Philadelphia Vireo I have seen in Reno.

Philadelphia Vireo

Hopefully this good birding continues!

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

Black-chinned Hummingbird

I had an interesting female Archilochus hummingbird start coming to my feeder about a week ago and since they are very tricky to identify, I asked hummingbird expert Sheri Williamson what she thought.  I was elated when she emailed back and said that it was a Black-chinned, since there are under twenty state records. (And nearly all of the other records have been from far western Kansas.)

Black-chinned Hummingbird (left)

Black-chinned Hummingbird.  Notice the "clubbed" look to the wing that separates it from the more common Ruby-throated.

Migration is finally starting to pick up again, and I am very ready for it!  I saw at least two, probably more, Alder Flycatchers near here the other morning.  I had never seen an Alder before this year, and now I have seen five!

Alder Flycatcher

Several weeks ago I saw this Oriole that definitely at least has some Bullock's influence.

Oriole

I have also managed to get a few butterfly pictures, although there haven't many around of late.

Delaware Skipper

Pearl Crescent

Southern Cloudywing

I'll finish with this Dickcissel picture.

Dickcissel

Andrew