Overland Park, KS:  5:00am rolled around way too soon this morning when it was time to get moving for a busy birding day.  A little help from some cereal and a lot of help from my coffee I headed out to meet up with Matt Gearheart for another birding adventure.  Matt and I had worked on a game plan the night before and had decided to do a southeast loop of Kansas.  We thought that this loop might produce a few early migrants for our Kansas and county lists.  County listing is an addictive, fun way to bird with friends in which you list every bird species you see in each county. 

Today's trip took us through five Kansas counties: Coffey, Woodson, Greenwood, Wilson, and Elk.  The morning started off with a bang finding a Greater Yellowlegs and Bonapartes Gulls at John Redmond Reservoir and a host of ducks on the small ponds.  This was shaping up to be an outstanding March county listing trip.  March is always a little bit of a gamble for a bird trip in Kansas.  Extreme weather differences and wind patterns can really fowl, pun intended, things up.  We left John Redmond with visions of bald Eagles cruising on thermals over the dam and made our way down a chain of lakes.  Crossing that magical dividing line that seperates Black-capped Chickadees and Carolina Chickadees we started knocking off year birds left and right.  On one highway we saw a dark hawk fly over the vehicle that looked different.  Pulling a quick turn around we parked the truck on a road just off the highway and the hawk cooperated by flying right over our heads.  Rough-legged Hawk! This was on our hit list for the day and what a view!  My favorite thing about this bird was the dark tail band at the end of the feathers, just stunning to see flying around above.  So many raptors were seen on our trip that it was mind boggeling to count each one.  We added Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture, Barred Owl, Northern Harrier, and Red-tailed Hawks that ranged from almost all white to black. 

After lunch we started to bird our way back home after asking the locals, the cows, for directions.  Matt and I just had a feeling that we should check John Redmond one last time.  Up the highway we drove arriving at the resevoir and surveying one of the lower ponds.  A big brown gull was sitting on one of the mud flats and we started to study the specimen.  Both of us had a hunch of what the gull was but we needed more proof.  Soon after it stretched a wing and turned sideways to give us a good view of the head.  Round head creamy brown underwing, Thayers Gull!  I thought I might miss Thayer's Gull this spring which meant I would have to wait until the fall.  But wait no more- it is on the list!  Last but not least we picked up one more early migrant a Baird's Sandpiper. 

What a great day of birding!  I can't think of much else that could be better.  Oh wait....I am going to Tucson, Arizona tomorrow for a few days of birding!  So I will be on a birding trip through next Wednesday but expect a week's worth of blogging about Tucson when I return.

For all of the photos from this trip and more go to
https://www.photoshop.com/user/kcbirder