Overland Park, KS: Madness is probably the best word I can use to describe this past weekend. Matt Gearheart and I met up with two other Kansas birding diehards for an insane trip of county listing. It would take us through 30 counties, rain, snow, mud and 114 species of birds. As gruelling as these trips can be i can not think of a much better way to spend my free weekends. To the average american Kansas is a flat wheat field that borders I-70 and is the punishment one must take to get to Colorado. This is an unfortunate view of the state and if you go north or south at all off of I-70 it turns very beautiful. A new spot for me to visit and an absolute gem was Alcove Springs which was discovered by the Donner Party who was part of the gold rush. It has a beautiful waterfall and great trees for the birds. We did not see many birds due to snow and rain but we did nail Purple Finch and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Matt and I parted ways with the party and headed to Wilson Lake to get Long-earred Owl for the year and to end up in Great Bend for the night.
Great Bend put us in position to bird two of the best wetlands in the midwest, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms. Fortunately the weather turned to beautiful on Sunday as we birded the wetlands and made our way back home.
Some of the bird highlights on the trip were: American-golden Plover, Sandhill Crane, Trumpeter Swan, American Pipit, Vesper Sparrow, Cinnamon Teal, 6 owl species, and a total of 24 waterfowl species. This finally gave me the boost to my year list that I was looking for bringing me to 128 for the year. Maybe this is the year I can get to 300 in Kansas for the year only time will tell.
Sunrise at Quivira NWR
American White Pelican in Flight
Blue-winged Teal at Cheyenne Bottoms
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