Birding Kansas
and (1 day each) OK and AR
April 21-29, 2008

Trip Report and Trip List

Red-headed Woodpecker Red-winged Blackbird Yellow-headed Blackbird

Northern Shoveler American Avocet Long-billed Dowitcher

American White Pelican Snowy Egret Wilson's Phalarope

White-faced Ibis Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird

Meadowlark Greater Prairie Chicken Bobolink

Brown-headed Cowbird Dickcissel Mourning Dove

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Lark Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow

• Red-headed Woodpecker: Local birders told us on April 26th that these weren't in yet, but then we saw this individual April 27th, our only one of the trip. I took the head-up shot with my Bushnell binocular camera. Compare with the sharper Canon shot. I can catch a better moment with the binocular camera, because I am not squinting though a viewfinder after having wasted a few moments of the bird's brief appearance grabbing for my camera. But most of my Bushnell pictures are duds. The Bushnells focus fine as binoculars, but as a camera, NOT (There are rare exceptions).
• Female Red-winged Blackbird
• Yellow-headed Blackbird flock.
• Shovelers were everywhere; Shoveler pair; Shovelers in flight; A Bushnell success.
• We also saw multiple Avocets everyday; Their legs are blue.
• Long-billed Dowitchers feeding.
• American White Pelicans (and Ring-billed Gulls) in Kansas; Pelicans have a wingspan of 108 inches; A few more Pelicans in flight.
• Wilson's Phalaropes reflected.
• White-faced Ibis crossing guard phalanx for a deer; zoom in; big ibis flight over Quivera; closeup; detail.
• A Scissor-tail perched and a Scissor-tail in flight; The Oklahoma State Bird is the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
• Eastern Meadowlark photographed from the Prairie Chicken blind. The Western Meadowlark's song is even better than the Eastern Meadowlark's. We had both every day.
• We watched an active Prairie Chicken lek for 2 hours from a blind.
• Bobolink; Bobolinks at Holla Bend NWR in Arkansas.
• Dickcissel; another individual; It's rare for Herman to see a Dickcissel in Massachusetts, and he never sees one there in breeding plumage. So he really enjoyed this specie on the trip.
• What's with the little tufts on each side of the bill on this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird? I love that irridescent green.
• Lark Sparrow showing boldly patterned face; Lark Sparrow showing unmarked rump; Lark Sparrow showing breast spot, clean underparts, and pale patch where the wing intesects the branch.

A Sampling of Other Bird Species Sighted (in taxonomic order):

• Pied-billed Grebe
• Cormorants, some with double crests evident; Study of a Cormorant's feet on takeoff.
• Great Blue Heron in flight from below; from above (Bushnell).
• Turkey Vulture taking off; perched; Two perched together.
• Osprey
• Kestrel
• Prairie Falcon
• Wood Duck; a pair.
• Blue-winged Teal in flight, coot not quite; synchronized swimming; This preening Teal shows a spot of blue, usually only visible in flight.
• Ruddy Duck pair; Four Ruddy Ducks.
• It was not unusual to spot a Ring-necked Pheasant (Canon). Compare the photo quality with this Pheasant taken with the camera built into my Bushnell binoculars.
• We sighted Wild Turkeys every day.
• Killdeer
• Solitary Sandpipers have white spectacles.
• Upland Sandpiper. A couple of times, as I drove through rural Kansas, Herman said, "Stop! Backup. Upland Sandpiper."
• We pulled over on a wide shoulder just outside Great Bend, KS to watch Franklin's Gulls in a field. Herman exclaimed, "They're pink!" After awhile a policecar, lights aflashing, stopped to see if anything was wrong; Here's a flight of Franklins near Wakefield, KS.
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Tree Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallows
• Barn Swallow
• Bluebird (Bushnell); another; and yet another
• Athletic Northern Mockingbird
• Harris's Sparrows were common in Kansas; from the front; Harris's has an unmarked rump as does the Lark Sparrow.
• White-crowned sparrow; two White-crowned sparrows in a tree.
• Indigo Bunting; another; Indigo Bunting (Bushnell); Tree full of Indigo Buntings (Detail, Bushnell) at La Cynge Lake.
• Goldfinch

Multiple Avian Species in the Same Frame:

• Franklin's Gull, Red-winged, and Yellow-headed blackbirds at Quivera.
• First summer Red-winged Blackbird with Common Grackles, taken with my Bushnell binocular camera. Compare with this shot of the same site. (but looks like a different Redwing individual) taken with my Canon.
• Willet and Lesser Yellowlegs. Republican River bottoms, Wakefield, KS.
• Blue Grossbeak and Lark Sparrow, Holla Bend, AR
• Size comparison of Coots and Long-billed Dowitchers at Cheyenne Bottoms.
• Male Blue-winged teal, and a Shoveler pair, respectively the first and second most common ducks of the trip.
• Yellowlegs, Wilson's Phalaropes, and a pair of Blue-winged Teal at the sewage pits, Wakefield KS.

Butterflies:

• Red Admiral
• A Pipevine Swallowtail, perhaps. This may be the same individual; And this swallowtail may be too (!) I took all three pictures within minutes in a meadow at Holla Bend NWR, AR. I photographed a Pipevine Swallowtail in Texas in October 2005.
• Orange butterfly
• Earth-toned butterfly

• Bobcat; from behind. Notice the bobbed tail. We saw the bobcat at 8:30 a.m. between Stillwell Oklahoma and the Arkansas state line while traveling a country road.
The only pictures I got were these two taken with the camera built into my Bushnell binoculars.
• Deer. Herman noticed this. I would have missed it.
• Armadillo

People:

• Herman in the prairie chicken blind.
• Bob and Margaret Massey and Herman at breakfast after our morning in the Massey's Prairie Chicken blind.
• We got several trip birds on this side road the day we drove from Dexter KS to Wakefield KS.
• Republican River Bottoms field trip, Wakefield Birding Festival.
• Ken leading a field trip.
• Jeannie and Eva on the levee by the Kansas River in Lawrence, KS.
• Springtime in Kansas.
• Herman at Marais de Cynge, KS.
• Showing us to our room, Margaret Massey pointed out the blinds in the distance where we'd be going at dawn. In no time Herman set up his scope in hopes of getting a sneak preview of a prairie chicken.

Things:

• View from Massey's porch to the lek.
• This was our ride between the farm BnB and the Prairie Chicken blind.
• Windmill. Did you notice the Meadowlark I accidentally picked up?
• I was surprised at the many Oil Wells in Kansas. We were told a lot of them were dormant until the recent surge in oil prices. I'm sure you noticed the Turkey.
• I like nice signs.
• Steer sign.

Trip List
Trip Report
Greater Prairie Chickens

Birding Massachusetts 2018
Birding Massachusetts 2015-2017
Birding Massachusetts 2014
Birding Massachusetts 2013
Birding Massachusetts 2012
Birding Massachusetts 2011
Birding Massachusetts 2010

Birding France 2019
Birding Phoenix 2018
Birding Ireland 2016
Birding Yellowstone and northern Utah 2015
Birding Hawaii 2011
Birding Arizona 2010
Birding Utah 2009
Birding Guatemala 2008
Birding Mexico 2007
Birding South Florida 2006
Birding Texas 2005
Birding Nantucket, annually, at New Year's
Birding Panama 2005
Birding Belize 2002
Birding Colorado 2001
Birding Ecuador 1999
Birding Trinidad 1998
Birding Peru June 1995
Herman's Birding Page

Wildlife sketches made at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Herman's Home Page
Eva's Home Page

Most of the photos on this page were taken with my Canon Digital Camera w/ 12X zoom lens.

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Last revised: August 8, 2019