Prairie View

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Refuge

Yesterday my brother-in-law, Bill, took a minivan load of birding relatives to Quivera, the wetlands wildlife refuge about 40 miles from here. Besides his daughter Maria and me, Christy, Joey, Bryant, and Andrew went along. Bill had gone by himself earlier and had taken Joey along another day.

Spring migration is underway, and Bill and the others added many species to their life lists--some of them still very informal lists, given the fact that we're including nine-year-olds here.

Bill saw a Harris' Sparrow for the first time at the feeders outside our dining room windows. They think Kansas is "The South," since their nesting grounds are as far north as the Arctic Circle.

The day before, at Quivera, Joey and Bill had seen Whooping Cranes, a very rare and well-protected bird. I remember when there were less than a hundred surviving individuals in this species, but at an earlier time there were only 16 known survivors. Whooping Cranes are white with black wingtips, and a red crown. At maturity, they stand five feet tall--the tallest American bird, and arguably the most majestic. On the same day, they saw American Avocets for the first time.

Many bird species migrate along the Central Flyway, which passes through the prairie states. Wetlands in this Flyway are magnets for passersby in need of rest and a food supply. The only other routes that have comparable concentrations of traffic are along the Mississippi River, and along the left and right coasts.

Yesterday we kept our eyes peeled for a yellow-headed blackbird, which we never spotted. But we saw a mink and a muskrat very close together, and the boys were hoping for a death fight between them since Bill had told them just before we saw the muskrat that mink can kill a muskrat. Most of us had never seen either one in the wild. We saw about 50 deer, both mule deer and white-tailed. A coyote crossed the road in front of us while we were in the refuge.

Other sightings of large birds included an immature Bald Eagle (They're in this stage for four years.), a short-eared owl, Northern Harrier, Red-Tailed Hawk, Ring-Necked Pheasant, and Wild Turkey. Along the shoreline we saw Snowy and Cattle Egrets and Great Blue Herons. The granddaddy of all the large birds was the Great White Pelican. With a wingspread of over nine feet, and with several hundred of them massed on the water and in the air, they were magnificent.

I saw tree swallows for the first time, and identified the snowy plover for the first time. We saw Eared Grebes, Pied-Bill Grebes, American Bittern, and Double-Crested Cormorants. The Cormorants displayed their peculiar hanging-the-wings-out-to-dry habit. The most abundant birds in the water were the Northern Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, and American Coots. We also saw Canvasbacks, Buffleheads, Mallards (Only one pair!), Scaups, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal (I think), and one Gadwall.

We didn't see any Red-heads or Cinnamon Teal, which were on Bill's hoped-for list. I don't remember any Pintails or American Widgeons, two common sightings in my Sterling College days when I spent many a lunch hour at the lake watching the birds. Notably absent also were the huge flocks of sea gulls we often see during migration. We couldn't positively identify the only one we saw.

We saw the fenced area surrounding the nesting grounds of the Least Tern. Protecting them from predators is the purpose of the fencing.

I'm old enough to remember a number of bird names that are no longer in official use. One name, Shy-Poke, was apparently always a folk name for one of several shore birds. My dad used it to refer to what I know now as an American Bittern. Other out-of-vogue names are Slate-colored Junco, Marsh Hawk, and Sparrow Hawk. They are now called Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Harrier, and American Kestral.

One other thing has changed that makes a difference in my birding experience. My eyesight has deteriorated, and I can no longer distinguish the markings of birds as readily as I used to. I especially noticed yesterday how keen-eyed the youngsters in the group were. Bill commented, "You see a lot more when you have more people along."

Something that has unfortunately not changed is that I easily get disoriented at Quivera, and have no sense for which roads take me deeper into the refuge or lead me out of it. I've concluded that's why I don't go there more often--because I'm a little worried that I might not find my way out again. It was great to have a driver without these limitations.

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Bill (upon arriving at the outhouse in the refuge): Does anyone need to go to the restroom?

Christy: I'm pretty sure no one will have to after they see the pot. It's pretty awful.

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Maria: My ears are ringing. They literally are ringing. If you boys in the back would stay in your seats when you talk, it would help. I think I'll start clicking this pen whenever I hear too much noise. I can be very annoying with a pen. (Stifled chuckles in the front seats here. Apparently it's not only the vision sense that's extraordinarily keen in these youngsters.)

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Christy (in the refuge headquarters, examining the talons of a Great-Horned Owl) : Joey has one of these. Lois found the owl dead on the road and gave it to him. He cut off the feet and found the tendon that controls the talons, so he pulled on it and had a lot of fun making them open and close.

4 Comments:

  • A few things I would like to correct. First, it was 60 deer instead of 50. I said the comment about the restroom, not Christy. Bill saw the avocet on Sunday, not Friday when I was with him. There were no 9 year olds, just 8 and 10. It was fun.

    By Anonymous Joey, at 4/14/2009  

  • Oh, and kestral is spelled kestrel.

    By Anonymous Joey, at 4/14/2009  

  • Another correction. We were at Quivira (not Quivera) National Wildlife Refuge.

    By Anonymous Bryant, at 4/16/2009  

  • What a hoot!! (Note--the owl spotting:) Just to set the record straight even further--Maria just turned 11. And the distance is only 20 or so miles from the intersection of 4th St. and Partridge Rd. Bill had so much fun at Quivira...I have a feeling that will be a "must see" place everytime we were out there. He was already trying to plan our next trip.

    By Blogger Dorcas Byler, at 4/16/2009  

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