Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge

Tiff and I spent a wonderful weekend at a retreat called Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge.  It is located east of Junction City and south of Manhattan.  The place was amazing!  It's a mix of prairie and wood-lined creek.  While the primary purpose of the trip was definitely not birding, Tiff suggested we do some owling at night to try to get Barred Owl (a species that I might have trouble getting the rest of the year).  I was also hoping to get Tufted Titmouse, a species that would be remarkable in Rooks, but it easy to get on the east side of the state.  I'm very tired of all the Tufted Titmouse alerts on my Kansas Needs on Ebird.  The Titmouse came easily.  Saturday morning, we woke up and their were Tufted Titmice (#101) adding their constant chatter to the morning chorus.  Barred Owl and another species that was only barely on my radar came later with more difficulty.  The surprise species came while Tiff and I were headed back to the cabin.  Previously, I had used the iPod to give the "Peent" call of this early-migrating species.  It did not respond to it, but after we moved a couple of hundred yards away, and I started the Barred Owl call, a bird with a very long bill started flying, emitting the characteristic sound of the bird in flight.  The bird?  An American Woodcock (#102).  They are easy to get in Michigan, but I wasn't figuring getting them in Kansas this year.  And after Tiff went to the cabin, I eventually got a Barred Owl (#103) to respond to the iPod.  For some reason, Barred Owls have only responded with one round of calls to the iPod any time I have gotten a response.  This is quite different from Eastern Screech-Owls or Great Horned Owls.  I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.  Anyways, Bird Runner was awesome, incredibly peaceful, and a place Tiff and I will definitely visit again.

#100 and Cacklers

I got my 100th Kansas bird of 2012.  It was not the most exciting sighting of my life, hearing and then seeing a Killdeer (#100) fly into the Rooks County State Fishing Lake area as I was leaving.  One-hundred is 100, though.  And it's 100 in February to boot.

The highlight of the afternoon, though, was getting up close and personal to some Cackling Geese.  There haven't been a shortage of these birds in the county this Winter, but they don't usually let you get too close. For some reason, I was able to get close to a nice group of them at the lake, plunk down, and snap some photos.

I loved getting a chance to see the difference in head structure that Cackling Geese display as compared to the Canada Geese.  Their heads are very rectangular, and their bills are definitely stubbier than Canadas.  Both the bills and heads are a bit variable.

The bird with the red arrow displays a much rounder head.  The bird with the green arrow displays a much more rectangular head.  Both birds are Cacklers, though.

Look at the bill on the bird with the orange bill.  It appears quite a bit longer than the bill of the bird with the green bill.  Again, to the best of the my knowledge, both birds are Cacklers.

Another variation that was present in the flock was that a few of the birds had white neck rings while others had no neck ring whatsoever.

The birds with the green arrows display clear white neck rings.

The bird with the green arrow is honking.  While the call was noticeably higher at the time, I believe it could be difficult to identify the bird from a Canada if I didn't have a visual of the bird.

One of the details that seems apparent when you see Cacklers and Canadas together is the size of the neck.  This is pretty subjective, though, and is difficult when the birds are by themselves.

These two photos show how long the necks can appear when the bird is in an alert posture.  Most of the time the necks look distinctly short.

Almost a Century

I spent two hours at Rooks Fishing Lake today.  I picked up two more Kansas year birds.  One of the birds was going to come sooner or later.  It was one I heard only: Sandhill Crane (#98).  It's kind of an unmistakeable sound.  The other bird was one of my favorites.  I saw the bird flew across the road, long tail streaming behind it.  I pulled the car over and glassed the bush.  My suspicions were confirmed: Black-billed Magpie (#99).  I heard at least two birds calling back and forth; I love that sound.

The Great White Ghost from the North

This Winter this moniker would most aptly be given to the Snowy Owl.  Having already had three sightings of this bird in my county, however, I am going to apply it to another bird that I have been anticipating.  There have been two separate occasions where others have come to Webster and seen the bird; I have been keeping my eyes peeled for three months now, waiting for the bird to make an appearance in my binocular-aided field of vision.
It wasn't until yesterday that I was rewarded with a view of this winter-visitor from the North.  As I scanned the lake from the north side of the lake yesterday, I happened to get a glimpse of a large congregation of Common Mergansers with quite a few (~50) gulls going nuts while feeding on something in the water.  I wasn't sure if I was close enough to get a good view of the gulls, but I thought I'd take a quick glimpse before I headed to the south side of the lake.  Not long after I started scoping the gulls, I got a quick look at a Herring Gull-sized gull that had pearly-white primaries: Glaucous Gull (#97)!  From this vantage point, the sun shone through the primaries giving the bird a noticeably distinct appearance from the Herrings that surrounded the bird.  From the north side of the lake, though, I could not tell if the bird was a 1st- or 2nd-cycle gull; I couldn't see if the bird had gray on its mantle or if it was white, speckled with brown/black spots.  I also couldn't see if the bill was pink with a black tip or yellow (as a 3rd-cycle or adult bird would have).
I drove down to the south side of the lake and after a few minutes found the bird again.  From this vantage, I could tell that the bird was either a 3rd-cycle or adult bird.  The mantle was a light gray, noticeably lighter than the adjacent Herrings.  I could tell the bird had a yellow bill; however, I could not tell if the bird had a thin ring towards the end of the bill.  Thus, I could not differentiate whether it was an adult or 3rd-cycle bird.  Regardless, these ages are much more rarely seen in Kansas than 1st- or 2nd-cycle bird.  So I found an even rarer plumage of a rare winter visitor to the state, one that I have been waiting for a while now.  I love when patience pays off!
The Glaucous Gull was my 180th county bird and my 222nd Kansas bird.  I don't think it will be too long before I get to 200 for the county.  There are still a few easy birds (Yellow-headed Blackbird, Orchard Oriole, White-rumped Sandpiper, etc.) that I should get with no problem in the coming months. There are also quite a few birds (both godwits, Red-necked Phalarope, Black-headed Grosbeak, etc.) that I shouldn't have too much problem getting in one of the next few migrations times without having to do special searches for them.
Also of note, I have most of my target winter birds taken care of.  Now I can spend March looking for new migrants and specifically targeting waterfowl (Cinnamon Teal, Long-tailed Duck, Greater Scaup, and the scoters) and owls (Long-eared, Short-eared, and Barn).

Great Birds on a Sad Trip

When I picked up the phone last Tuesday (the 7th), I could tell by the tone of my mother's voice that she was not the bearer of good news.  When she told me that her mother had passed away, I was very sad.  I had not seen my grandmother in nearly 5 years, and my wife of a year-and-a-half had never met her.  I knew that I wanted to go to Iowa for the funeral.
The trail to Sioux Center, Iowa happened to bring us directly to an area that has hosted a Common Crane for the past few weeks.  The crane has not been a sure thing for anyone venturing for it, but I couldn't pass it up.  Thankfully, my wife was willing to set aside some time to search for the bird.  On the way out there, however, the bird was nowhere to be found.  The wind was cold, the Sandhills many, and the bird got the best of me.
While in Sioux Center, we wanted to head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to register at Babies R Us.  Luckily, this store was only 15 minutes from a cemetery that has been hosting flocks of Red and White-winged Crossbills and, occasionally, Common Redpolls.  Most likely, I will not have another decent shot at these birds this year, so I wanted to make a quick stop.  My wife and I were lucky enough to get some great views of a flock of ~20 Red Crossbills (we were literally right under them for a few minutes).  I also got a look at 3 White-winged Crossbills that flew from a spruce when the flock of Reds came to the same tree.  This was only the 2nd time I've seen Red Crossbills and the 3rd time I've seen White-winged Crossbills.  Unfortunately, I did not see any redpolls.  I also happened to glance an owl resting in a tree.

 A Great-horned waiting for night to come

 "What are you looking at?"

 One of the few times the bird lifted its head

 Here's a nice look at how the birds get their name.

 The rewards of having those funky bills

 This is how the birds looked 95% of the time.

 Check out that rump!

 Some more rewards

 This photo is not cropped.

A pretty pair

The best bird of the trip was going to have to wait for the end of the trip.  After the funeral and spending some awesome time with family, Tiff and I headed back on Sunday.  Tiff was gracious enough to let me try for the crane again.  In the end, I ended up finding the bird (with its head tucked at first) right before we were going to take off.  I got some killer scope looks from about 150 yards.  It was an awesome bird, my first ABA code 4.

Two New Year Birds

I went out for an hour and a half today to do some birding.  I didn't really have any specific targets in mind; I just wanted to see if any birds have migrated north.  I have been trying to find a Glaucous Gull, but I haven't had any luck with that even though the number of gulls has definitely picked up as of late.  I did get an up close and personal experience with a Northern Shrike (#95), which I've been trying to pick up since the new year.  I love these butcher birds.

Notice how the black stripe on the face only includes about half of the eye.  If this bird were a Loggerhead, almost the entire eye would be enveloped by the stripe.  You can also notice the barring on the breast of the bird.  Barring would only be present on a juvenile Loggerhead, which would also display more brown tones.

This picture shows a nice profile of the bird's bill.  A Loggerhead's would be smaller and not as sharply hooked.

I also called out a Lincoln's Sparrow (#96) at the sandpit.  I was trying to get a Swamp Sparrow or, better yet, a Marsh Wren, but I did not have any luck.

More Kansas Birds I Need

A nice aspect of moving to a new state is that you can start on a new state list.  You also don't have to worry about being embarrassed about the state birds you don't have yet because you haven't been in the state long.  I don't know why, but there were some times when I would feel embarrassed about some of the birds I lacked on my Michigan list.  For instance, I never got Red-throated Loon or Common Redpoll.  These are not everywhere, but they are certainly birds that I could have gotten had I made the appropriate trip at the right time.  Of course, there is an irruption of redpolls in Michigan this winter.  My buddy Albert got 24 in his yard the other day.  Oh well.  Anyways, there are always some people who try to make you feel little for "only" having a certain number of species.  I'm liking not having to deal with that in Kansas.  Some of it is that I'm starting over, and some it is that the birders seem to be a bit more on the nice side.  Maybe it's all in my mind.  Okay, enough ramblings.  Here is the continuation of birds I need in Kansas:
41. Catharus thrushes-Okay, I should get Swainson's during Spring migration.  Veery and Gray-cheeked arepossible.  To a lesser degree, Wood Thrush is also a possibility during migration.  I can't count on any of those three in Rooks in the near future, but I would not be shocked to get any or all of them.  Wood Thrush I have a chance of getting if I do in fact go to Bird Runner.
42.  Curve-billed Thrasher-Lifer! I'll have to go down to Morton County to get this baby.  They are regular there, not guaranteed, but by no means would it be a shock.
43.  Sprague's Pipit-Lifer! This is one of the birds I look forward to seeing in a great anticipation.  The cool thing about it is that I could easily get it in Rooks, too.  I'd like to get a good look at one of them, but chances are, I'll probably flush one some time and have to hope that I can recognize the call note.  I'm hoping to get one this Spring.
44.  Longspurs! I am determined to get both Chestnut-collared and McCown's Longspurs this March or April.  I could get them in Rooks, but they would be easier to get in Pawnee.  I would love to see some in partially alternate plumage.  There is a chance.  There is also a chance I could get Smith's in Rooks, but it would be a lot easier to go to the Southeast.
45.  Warblers! Okay, here are the migrating warblers I have a decent shot to get in Rooks: Tennesse, Nashville, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes, Ovenbird, and Mourning. I'm hoping to get 4 or 5 of them this Spring.  There are also some warblers that I can get in the East, either during migration or the breeding season: Yellow-throated, Prairie, Cerulean, Prothonotary, Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky, Hooded, and Canada.  There are a few warblers I could get in the Southwest (or if I'm very lucky, in Rooks): Townsend's, MacGillivray's, and Black-throated Gray.  And finally, I am determined to get a Yellow-breasted Chat sometime this Spring or Summer.
46.  Brewer's Sparrow-Lifer! I should get this sometime in Morton County.
47.  Rufous-crowned Sparrow-Lifer! Most likely, I'll have to go to the South-central counties or to Morton to get this bird.  There is one at Wilson Lake right now, though.  If wasn't supposed to snow a lot this weekend, I would go.
48.  Baird's Sparrow-Lifer!  Probably the regular bird in Kansas that I most want to see.  They are secretive and rare.  I'll probably have to do some bush-whacking to see this one.
49.  Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows-Le Conte's I should get in Rooks at some point.  Nelson's there is a shot at that, but it is much more likely that I'll have to trod through some wet fields in the East.
50.  Summer Tanager-A possibility for migration in Rooks, but more likely a bird I'll pick up on a trip to the East.

Distinguishing between the White Geese in Flocks

One of the birding experiences I was most looking forward to was seeing large flocks of geese, particularly seeing Snow and Ross's Geese and trying to distinguish the two.  Surprisingly, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between them when they are in a flock on the ground because they keep their heads tucked quite often.  Besides, the birds are often skittish because of hunters, so they don't give you great looks that often.  I got a decent chance to look at some white geese today.  Here are some of the (less than stellar) photos:

 The left bird demonstrates the larger size of the Snow Goose and the larger bill of this species.  The size can often be difficult to tell, but here you can see that the right bird is noticeably smaller with a small bill (Ross's Goose).

 This shot shows the difference in bill size.  The left bird (Ross's) has a very small bill while the right bird (Snow) has a much larger bill.

 Another shot of the previous birds (Ross's on left and Snow on the right).

 The two left birds (Ross's) demonstrate shorter necks; rounder heads; and small, stubby bills.  The right  bird (Snow) presents with a longer neck; a flatter head profile; and a longer, more robust bill.

The bird on the left (Ross's) shows a smaller head and bill while the bird on the right (Snow) shows a larger head and bill.

A Winter Catharus (Guttatus)

There hasn't been anything too exciting lately.  I did take a walk at the Twin Pond Campground the other day and re-found a Hermit Thrush that Tiff and I found a few weeks ago.  I'm not used to seeing thrushes (other than American Robins) during the Winter, so it's pretty nice to see one.