Yes, You Can Bird Anywhere!

Thursday, a group of gentlemen I work with decided to go golfing, and I was invited along. I don't golf. However, an afternoon outside is always a good thing. So I agreed to go, as long as I didn't have to golf. While they golfed, I heckled and did some birding. The guys aren't birders, but they got into the spirit of the thing and didn't give me too hard of a time. Overall, it wasn't a bad day birding, considering we were on the course in the afternoon (1:00 - 5:15 PM) and it was very windy.

I saw my first green herons of the year and my first snowy egret. My favorite sighting was a flock of chipping sparrows. Here is my list for the Country Club golf course, 18 April:

Mallard
Blue-winged teal
Killdeer
Great blue heron
Snowy egret
Eurasian collared dove
White-winged dove
Rock pigeon
Red-tailed hawk
Turkey vulture
Mourning dove
Northern cardinal
Blue jay
Robin
Cedar waxwing
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Mockingbird
Barn swallow
Cliff swallow
Purple martin
Eastern phoebe
European starling
Red-winged blackbird
Brown-headed cowbird
Great-tailed grackle
House finch
White-crowned sparrow
Chipping sparrow
House sparrow

It just goes to show, you can have a good day birding anywhere, anytime. Just keep those binoculars at hand.

Good birding!

Winter Warblers Back

Today I decided to bird Lucy Park. I haven't been there in a while and it is a good habitat for warblers and sparrows. Although the woods were a little empty today, it was a great morning. The weather was clear and in the 60's.

It is a little hard to bird Lucy Park because it is adjacent to Hwy 287 and there is constant traffic, that makes it difficult to hear small birds in the underbrush. If you aren't right next to a bird, you aren't likely to hear it; you have to see it. I am sure if it was a little quieter, I would get lots more birds. But that's just the way it is.

I saw my first of the season brown thrasher. He was scolding up a storm--one bird I did hear. Two winter warblers back in good numbers in the park were yellow-rumped and orange-crowned. As usual there were several ruby-crowned kinglets--they will practically get in your face. Two special sparrows migrating through that were present in fairly large numbers were clay-colored sparrows and chipping sparrows.

Lucy Park is a good place to look for cavity nesters. Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice and woodpeckers are normally easy to find and that was the case today. Downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers and flickers were all over the park. If you haven't birded Lucy Park in a while, you're due for a visit.

Good birding!

A Brillant Morning at Lake Wichita

It was a gorgeous morning on Lake Wichita and a great day for birding. I decided to start at the spillway, cross the dam and then bird the chat trail and the barrow pit.

When I got out of the car at the spillway, I knew it was going to be a great morning, even if I didn't see another bird. I heard dozens of clay-colored sparrows as soon as I got out of the car and as soon as I looked into Holliday creek, there were 12 snowy egrets. Things continued to get better with a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds at the top of the dam.

Even a poor day birding is a good day, but some days you remember for a long time. Today was one of those days. The thistle plants were all going to seed along the dam and there were hundreds (and probably thousands) of chipping and clay-colored sparrows rising up all around me as I walked. In fact, sparrows were good all the way around: in addition to chipping and clay-colored sparrow, I saw house sparrow, song sparrow, lark sparrow, savannah sparrow, and white-crowned sparrow.

A couple of first of season birds: yellow-billed cuckoo and male orchard oriole.

Here's my bird list for the two hours this morning (51 species): common grackle, great-tailed grackle, European starling, mourning dove, house sparrow, cliff swallow, killdeer, great egret, red-winged blackbird, snowy egret, great blue heron, Canada goose, eastern meadowlark, scissor-tailed flycatcher, yellow-headed blackbird, white pelican, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, Western kingbird, Savannah sparrow, American coot, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, barn swallow, chimney swift, double-crested cormorant, cedar waxwing, mallard, cardinal, turkey vulture, robin, house finch, blue-winged teal, ruddy duck, brown-headed cowbird, white-crowned sparrow, mockingbird, eared grebe, spotted sandpiper, red-tailed hawk, white-winged dove, blue jay, rock pigeon, American pipit, white-faced ibis, Eurasian collared dove, Carolina wren, orchard oriole, American goldfinch, yellow-billed cuckoo, and lark sparrow.

Good birding!