Over the last several years I’ve made a
couple trips into Kansas and successfully reached the ABA reporting threshold
there, though by just 1 bird. While
birding in the northwest portion of KS in March 2011, I coordinated with local
birders who told me about regular breeding birds in the western edge of the
state which were more typical of western states rather than eastern ones. I had never birded western KS in summer, so
all those western species would be new for my KS list. As a result, since 2011 I’ve thought about a
short summer birding trip there which would likely put me well over the ABA
threshold in KS.
I had similar plans about going to the OK
panhandle for the first time to add many western species to my OK list. So when a summer 2013 trip to Denver came up,
I started to make preliminary plans to add some vacation days and bird both the
OK panhandle and western KS. Although
that trip got cancelled, I did enough research to find out that to maximize my
bird species I really needed to be in the far western end of the OK panhandle
called the Black Mesa area, and the southwestern corner on KS near
Elkhart. And birding these areas in fall
migration could get me not only most of the local breeders, but also some
migrants both from the west and the east.
Luckily another trip to Denver came up in September, which could be
perfect timing. So with the help of some
excellent birders in both states, I planned a trip which would not only get me
to the reportable limit in OK, but hopefully well over the threshold in both OK
and KS. To reach my target of 15 over
the thresholds in each state I needed 18 in OK and 14 in KS.
[This blog post is for the KS part of my
trip – Days 3, 4, and 5. The previous
post was for the OK part of my trip – Days 1, 2, and 3.]
Day 3 – Afternoon in Elkhart
I left the OK panhandle after 2 excellent
days of birding, and arrived in Elkhart at about 2 PM on Day 3. Two excellent KS birders, Ted Cable and Mike
Rader, were going to be joining me for the next two days, and were due into
town in just an hour. In the meantime I
headed over to western Elkhart to the Giddens’ house where a set of backyard
feeders were well-known for attracting various western hummingbirds. Just as I arrived in the alley behind the
house I noticed a White-winged Dove on the overhead wires (KS statebird
#1). A few minutes later, the homeowners
noticed me and invited me into their yard.
As I walked in they said they had had 3 flycatchers and 2 warblers there
all day. As I waited for the flycatchers
to appear, a female-plumaged Black-chinned Hummingbird visited the feeder
(#2). A couple minutes later the first
flycatcher flew in, and within the next 30 minutes not 2 but 3 others were also
flitting around the small yard.
Amazingly they were 1 each of 4 Empidonax species –
- Yellowish below, tear-drop shaped yellow eye-ring, a bit of a crest – a Cordilleran
- Yellowish sides, white chest and throat, white eyering, large head, short wings – a Dusky
- Like the Dusky but longer winged and lots of wing and tail flicking – a Hammond’s (#3)
- No eyering, no yellow below, brownish above, with tawny wingbars – a Willow
This was the beginning of an amazing
Empidonax weekend!
My statebird map for Hammond’s Flycatcher
is inserted below. I’ve now seen it in most
states where it is a regular breeder and migrant, and now KS on the eastern
edge of its migration range.
A little later the other birders arrived
and we spent the next hour or so watching the Empids at quite close
distance. At one point I had the
Cordilleran, Dusky, and Hammond’s perched on a clothesline in the same binoc
field! What a great comparison. The next excitement was when a second
hummingbird flew in and perched on a twig – it was a smaller bird with a
shorter straight bill – a Calliope Hummingbird (#4). Mike described it as a cotton ball with a
toothpick sticking out of it. The two
warblers turned out to be a Nashville and a Wilson’s. We probably spent 2 full hours watching the
amazing variety of birds very cooperatively moving around the small
backyard. What a start!
We started to think that if the migrants
were this good in the limited habitat of this small backyard, they could be
great at the cemetery and adjacent shelterbelt which is well-known as an
amazing migrant magnet. So we headed
over there, but were surprised that there were few migrants at the cemetery,
and even less in the shelterbelt. Though
we did flush a Barn Owl that is regular in the shelterbelt (#5), along with 22
Black-crowned Night Herons. It was now
starting to rain, so we decided to head to the adjacent wastewater treatment
lagoons – another well-known hot spot.
As we neared the lagoons we drove past a small group of trees at the perimeter of the
lagoons which had a number of migrants including several Bullock’s Orioles (#6)
and Western Tanagers (#7), along with the common Wilson’s and Yellow Warblers,
and a flock of mostly immature Spizella sparrows. Next we drove up on the dikes and despite the
wind and rain we easily picked out several Spotted Sandpipers that flushed in
front of us (#8), followed by a small flock of Wilson’s Phalaropes swimming in
the water, a couple hundred very skittish dabblers, and a flock of 8 Black
Terns (#9). My statebird map for Black
Tern is inserted below – although this species is seen across the country I
still have some gaps to fill in the Midwest and Northwest and CT.
At this point we were at the western edge
of a big rain storm, so rather than trying to bird in the rain, we headed west along
SR51 to investigate farmfields to try for Mountain Plovers and Long-billed Curlews. Although we struck out on the shorebirds, we
noticed two ravens in the distance – but which species were they? Both are quite rare in the area and not
necessarily easy to identify. As we got
close to them one gave a low “croak”, which along with the larger size,
confirmed them as Common Ravens (#10). My
statebird map for this species pretty well matches its range in the west, upper
Midwest, and the Northeast down the spine of the Appalachians. Plus now into KS.
Just to the north was a cell tower with a
number of Western Kingbirds on the fence, and our first Say’s Phoebe
(#11). We then turned west and were now
almost to the CO stateline when I noticed a raptor on a telephone pole. As we got closer to it we realized it was an
Osprey out here in the middle of the dry prairie and farmer’s fields. Now the only question was whether it was in
KS or CO. The GPS confirmed that it was
a few feet east of the stateline so it was a KS statebird (#12).
A few minutes later we found a homestead
with a shelterbelt that was full of birds - more Empids, pewees, orioles, and
the common warblers. And around the
corner we found a large Spizella flock that included at least one adult
Brewer’s Sparrow (#13).
Our last stop of the day was at the
Tunnerville Work Station. This is
another location that is well-known as a migrant trap because of its numerous
shelterbelt trees. Unfortunately, many of
these trees have died in the recent drought and have been cut down. So although there weren’t many migrants, we
did find a nice male Black-and-White Warbler along with two Audubon’s Warblers,
some more Empids, and a Curve-billed Thrasher in a brush pile at the edge of
the station. The thrasher was my 14th
new statebird – I met my target in just the first half day of birding in KS.
Day 4 – Revisiting the Elkhart Hotspots
We stepped out of our hotel rooms at dawn
and found quite a number of migrants right outside the hotel. So again we expected the cemetery and
shelterbelt would be hopping and made that our first stop. But just like yesterday, there were very few
birds there. Though we did have quite a
number of pewees to study – the darker ones likely Westerns and the lighter
ones could have been Eastern, but it was tough to say for sure. A quick stop at the treatment ponds yielded
nothing new from yesterday. Next we
headed back to the alleys of western Elkhart, and although there were a fair
number of birds there, they were similar to the day before. Again we ran into more Empids and a few
warblers with new birds including a Great Horned Owl calling from a small
backyard, and a Swainson’s Thrush.
Next we headed out to Middle Spring in the
Cimarron National Grassland. This is a
green oasis of brush and trees surrounded by the dry prairie that can be a nice
migrant trap. There were a fair number
of migrants in the brush, including Wilson’s, Yellow, and Orange-crowned
Warblers. New species were one each of
two eastern migrants that are pretty unusual for southwest KS - a
female-plumaged Black-throated Green Warbler (#15) and a Blue-headed Vireo
(#16). I’ve seen Blue-headed throughout
most of its regular range except for a couple southeastern states.
And of course there were a number of Empids
– almost as many Empids as warblers.
Another notable bird was a Barn Owl that we flushed out of the trees which
made several passes over the prairie before resettling back in the woods.
We then continued to the west to Point of
Rocks which was a prominent landmark in the 1800’s for the travelers on the
Santa Fe Trail. Looking down today from
the top of the point, you can still see the tracks used by those wagon wheels
even after all those years. Pretty
awesome.
As are the views of the
cottonwoods in the Cimarron River valley as far as you can. Although the river is typically dry, some
small pools remained after the big late summer rains that occurred in the area
this year.
As for birds at this site, we had numerous
Rock Wrens which were the key target (#17).
We also had calling Red-headed Woodpeckers from the cottonwoods below,
and a few Red-tailed Hawks soaring over the riparian habitat.
The planned next stop was at a homestead
and windbreak off to the northwest of Point of Rocks where Scaled Quail are
reasonably reliable – or at least as reliable as this skulking bird can
be. The problem was getting there. It was at least 10 miles away on dirt
roads. And although the roads were
mostly in good shape, low areas were wet with deep mud and very slippery from
the recent rains. We eventually got
there, though we had to maneuver through some deep mud and passed an 18-wheeler
that had slid off the road. We arrived
at the homestead and began to walk through the short grass. And within just a few seconds a flock of 18
Scaled Quail flushed a short distance away (#18). A bit later we found another pair, along with
more flycatchers. Unfortunately I missed
Scaled Quail while in OK – otherwise I would have seen this species in all
their regular states (see my statebird map below).
We were now reasonably close to SR51 so we
decided to head farther north and try again for plovers and curlews. It took some more white-knuckle driving
through even worse muddy roads, but we eventually got to paved roads and
starting birding again. A few minutes
later we found more ravens at about the same spot as the day before. When we pulled over to check them out, we
heard a shorebird flying overhead – we finally spotted it and it was a very
late Long-billed Curlew (#19). And the
ravens turned out to be 4 Commons. I
still need the curlew in a number of its regular states farther west.
Next we headed to the grassland campground
area, and although we didn’t have anything new there, there were lots of
birds. The woods were full of flocks of
Spizella sparrows, Bullock’s and Orchard Orioles, and Blue Grosbeaks, a few of
the common warblers, a Red-headed Woodpecker, and of course some more
flycatchers.
A bit farther south we went to a spot where
a pair of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers were seen this spring. And sure enough – we found one in the same
general area (#20). We also had a nice
male Baltimore Oriole, along with 3 female plumaged orioles that went
unidentified.
A short distance to the south we made a
quick stop at the Tunnerville Work Station.
Although birding there was once again pretty slow, we did see two
distant ravens to the south which again appeared to be big enough to be
Commons. That made a total of 6 that day
and 2 the day before – a high total for a locally rare bird.
It was now late afternoon and we met up
with David Wiggins to bird with us for the rest of the trip. We decided to head back to the streets of
Elkhart and eventually made our way to the Giddens’ backyard for some restful
birding. More Empids and several
hummingbirds were there to challenge our ID skills. Finally we got good long looks at one hummer
that we decided was a Ruby-throated – wings were not sickle shaped, and bill
was short and straight.
After a quick dinner we headed to Point of
Rocks to wait for dusk and try for Poor-wills.
While we waited we were treated to a nice movement of Nighthawks all
flying to the west, and a very nice sunset.
Finally dusk had arrived, and we began to
strain our ears to listen for Poor-wills over the noise of the ever-present
wind. Soon we all heard a barely audible
bird to the west, and a second closer bird to the east calling in response to a
little tape (#21). A great way to end a
great day of birding. Like most nightbirds,
I still need Poor-will in a number of states.
Day 5 – Morning in Elkhart and Return to
Denver
By our last day we had developed a bit of a
routine, starting at the cemetery, shelterbelt, and treatment plant. A fair number of migrant warblers,
flycatchers, and orioles at the cemetery were augmented by a very cooperative
Plumbeous Vireo found by Ted (#22). Then
a quick spin around the treatment plant ponds yielded a flock of 75 Wilson’s
Phalaropes with 2 Red-necked Phalaropes (#23), plus an Avocet, a Sanderling, 7
Leasts, and a Semi Sand. Ted had
stressed that the birds will turnover quickly at the treatment plant and he
certainly was correct. Another highlight
of the visit was a flock of sparrows at the edge of the plant which included 3
late Cassin’s Sparrows. A short walk
around the shelterbelt yielded a Chat and a cooperative Black-headed Grosbeak
(#24), but little else. No one could
understand why the shelterbelt was so slow for all 3 days.
Then we took one more spin through the Elkhart
alleys. Birding started pretty slowly
until we noticed a hummingbird perched low on a bush. It had considerable rufous on the sides and
red in the tail – a Rufous Hummingbird (#25) - and not even at a feeder. That was our fourth hummer species for the KS
part of the trip. The map of the states
where I’ve seen Rufous is pretty spotty – I’m missing several of its regular western
states, but I’ve seen it in 8 eastern states as a rarity and 3 Gulf Coast
states as a wintering bird.
We weren’t quite done giving each other
high fives when a raven flew low overhead which was quite small – a Chihuahuan
Raven (#26).
Then back to Middle Spring where we had a
Northern Waterthrush, but otherwise more of the same. Including a cooperative Dusky
Flycatcher. Again almost as many Empids
as warblers. The last stop in the area
was Pont of Rocks, and although there were no new birds, it was great to have
one more chance for those great views of the Cimarron River valley. Afterwards we all parted ways and I thanked
my KS birding friends for their excellent help birding the area. Hopefully someday I can help them find their
birding targets in New England.
But there was one last birding stop for me
in KS – as I headed back to Denver I found a flooded field just west of the
little town of Syracuse, KS that was full of birds. In addition to more than 200 dabbling ducks
there were 2 Black Terns, and 11 species of shorebirds. Although there were new KS statebirds for me,
8 of the shorebirds were new for the trip.
Plus there was one birding stop in Colorado. Just ½ mile west of the KS/CO stateline on
US50 I found a roadside rest stop that was well irrigated and full of mature
cottonwoods, though surrounded by dry prairie and farm fields. A number of the migrants I had in KS would be
new for my CO statelist so I hoped this little oasis might attract a few. It only took me about 45 minutes to cover the
rest stop thoroughly, but I had 17 species including 3 new birds for my CO list
– a male Baltimore Oriole, a Dusky Flycatcher, and a flock of Clay-colored
Sparrows. And a flock of 12 Blue
Grosbeaks was quite unexpected.
By the Numbers
With 26 new statebirds in KS that gives me
263 for my statelist and of course well over the ABA reportable threshold. And my CO statelist is now at 275 after
adding 3 new statebirds. I had 115
species for the KS part of the trip, and a total of 144 species for the entire
OK/KS trip.
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