Birding Boys

Here is a link to a blog post on the Pratt Tribune website about the North American Migration Count at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles west of here. My nephew, Joseph, sent me a link to the blog. Three nephews, one cousin's son, and one family friend are the five young men in the article.  The father who is identified should be Myron--not Lowell.  Both are my brothers.  Since it's a short post, I am copying it here:

• Tracking bird migration with five young men
• • By Brandon Case

How many youth today would arise well before dawn and travel 30 miles to spend most of the day identifying and tallying bird species?

At least five young men from the Partridge and Abbyville area did as much when they headed for Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to take part in the annual North American Migration Count.

I spent about three and a half hours with the Miller cousins/brothers: Bryant, 14, Andrew, 12, Joseph, 14, and Anthony, 14; their friend Ben Garrett;  a couple of fathers, Lowell Miller and Joel Garrett; and Barry Jones, who works at the refuge.

The experience of interacting with and observing these young men gives me great hope for the future. While many youth today seem almost inseparable from their cell phones and other personal electronic devices, these five spend ample time outdoors and been birding for the past five years in Kansas and other states. They have definitely not lost touch with nature and our interconnectedness with God’s creation.

These young men readily identified birds in flight, on the ground, and hidden in the trees and brush. I was impressed with their birding knowledge and skills.

I left the refuge around 12:15 p.m., by which time the group had already six hours sighting 121 species. After lunch, the Millers and Garretts continued the count with Barry Jones, driving north to the Big Salt Marsh.

The North American Migration Count is a great way to spend all, or part, of a day. You don’t even have to travel to Quivira to participate. You can head anywhere in Pratt County and start counting. For more information about this annual event, visithttp://community.gorge.net/birding/namcstasz.htm .

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I'm also copying an email Andrew sent me:

Dear Birders, 

This past Saturday we (Joey, Anthony,Dad,a Friend,and Bryant and I) went to Quivira for a day of birding.
 Barry Jones the refuge manager had invited us because it was the North American Migration Count that
 day and he was going to be out most of the light hours.  His goal was to get as many species as possible
in a 24-hour period.  We had a great day and our group ended up with 147 birds.  Some of the highlights
were,

Ruddy Turnstone (breeding male)

Lark Bunting (15 to 20)

Sanderling

Cinnamon Teal( breeding male)

Dark-eyed Junco(Gray-headed)(beating the Kansas late date by 30 days)

Blue-headed Vireo

Black-bellied Plover

Western Sandpiper

Virginia Rail

We had a great day for birding and tons of fun

                                  Happy Birding

Andrew 

Another happy event of the day was learning about a program Barry Jones has up his sleeve, which will feature a series of levels through which birders can advance and acquire some recognition along the way.  He hopes the five boys named above will be the first to try out the program and earn the recognition.  The highest level will require the birder to photograph a whooping crane.  These birds were at one time so nearly extinct that only sixteen remained in the wild.  Although this bird is still one of the rarest North American birds, the population has begun to recover and migrates through Quivira each year.  These majestic birds stand just under five feet tall and are the tallest North American birds.  

At graduation the evening before the big counting day, I had heard from Ben's mother about the  plans for the following day.  It seems that Ben may actually have been the one who put the plans together.  All the boys are homeschooled.

Ben's father is an art teacher in the Nickerson school district.  We have learned to know the family through Hiromi and Joel Garrett's mutual interest in creating pottery.  We traveled together several years ago to the Great Bend area to dig clay in an area owned by a major brick manufacturing company.  The company president took us back into the hills around the factory to show us where to dig for the various colors of clay.  It was a lovely outing.