2019 The Panjin Old Fat Man Birding in America (1 Viewer)

May 29, 2019

I haven't been keeping up here with my birding as it didn't seem to be drawing a lot of interest and it was coming down to not wanting to cut into my time for actual birding and photography. However I thought I would post a general overview.

In the last six weeks I have managed to add over 50 new species to my lifelist and gather new or better images of species that had eluded the camera up until now. I have been posting a few of the better images to the Gallery and am including some with this.

I've spent a great deal of time at the Baker Wetlands in south Lawrence, Kansas and in the wetland areas at the north end of Hillsdale Lake, Kansas due to unusually high water levels attracting a lot of migrants as they pass through. For the Warblers and such I have mostly birded the Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, KS and Mill Creek Park which is sandwiched between Mill Creek and the Kaw (Kansas River) as it has the magic mix of water and woods. Frustratingly a particular spot on private property with very restricted access on the Kaw just across from Mill Creek Park has produced several unusual species such as Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, complete with photos! Unfortunately, they all seem to be content staying just out of sight of those of us without access.

I haven't heard any specifics yet, but we had a large tornado come close enough last night that I could hear it from the door at the top of the basement steps, which had earlier brushed by the south side of Lawrence, Kansas, which probably means that the Baker Wetlands took a direct hit. It was estimated at that time to be approximately one mile wide. Needless to say the area is limited access this morning. The environment itself should have done just fine, but it could have been really hard on any wildlife. The important thing though is it appears that after being on the ground for two hours and destroying a lot of houses, there were no serious injuries or deaths.

I did go out to several of the "nearby" large reservoirs on Memorial Day and got some interesting shots of American White Pelican; Double-Crested Cormorant; & White-Faced Ibis that were all taking advantage of the flooded areas due to overfull reservoirs beginning to release water.

A few more....

A few more...

A few more of the best over the last week.

This Killdeer was doing an award winning performance with it's "broken wing" display to detract attention from it's ground nest. When just running along in front of me didn't seem to be working well enough it switched to, "Oh, my wing is broken!", then both wings and finally added a broken leg.

Black Tern & Forster's Tern showed up at the Baker Wetlands and a Beaver made a quick showing. The little cousins of the Eastern Meadowlark, Dickcissel, where cooperative in getting their photos taken.

Special showing

And today, while pursuing a reported Common Loon, I scored a great collection of shots of an Osprey fishing in the Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, KS.

Great posting, Owen!

Not much beats a breeding plumage Black Tern.

Do you have any more ibis photos? The leftmost bird certainly shows some Glossy Ibis features, Glossy being rare in Kansas. It might be worth putting that in the ID forum.

birdmeister said:

Great posting, Owen!

Not much beats a breeding plumage Black Tern.

Do you have any more ibis photos? The leftmost bird certainly shows some Glossy Ibis features, Glossy being rare in Kansas. It might be worth putting that in the ID forum.

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No more useful photos of the Ibis, Birdmeister. I did go back and over process the photo in question and I personally don't see enough to call the bird in question a Glossy. You might let us know what your seeing.

No matter what I appreciate your sharing your expertise.

Jun-4. 2019

I had major dental work done today, so I wasn't in the mood to take advantage of what has been some really nice weather. However, the cat and a Chipmunk had a stare down at the feeder and a nice leucistic female Northern Cardinal made an appearance.

Jun-8, 2019

Things are slowing down but I made a trip over to Lake Perry and they were discharging water at a moderate pace from the very full lake. I counted 22 Great Blue Heron gathered along the discharge area exhibiting what was for me at least some interesting unusual behavior.

The water was too deep for them to use their normal wading and waiting approach and apparently they had been watching the gulls feeding as they were using an approach that I had not seen them using before. They would stand along the shoreline using their height to scan the water. When one of them would spot a fish he would fly out, scan the water from altitude, then slowly approach while losing altitude and speed until they would stall out and drop easily down onto the fish spearing it as they splashed down. It was then a struggle to get airborne again. Returning to the shoreline they would then gulp down the fish.

A group of American Crow were gathered around a couple of young. Instead of begging for food this fellow was asking for a neck scratch.

Owen Krout said:

No more useful photos of the Ibis, Birdmeister. I did go back and over process the photo in question and I personally don't see enough to call the bird in question a Glossy. You might let us know what your seeing.

No matter what I appreciate your sharing your expertise.

Click to expand...

Just checking back in now.

The bird in question does not have the clear red facial skin and eyes of the obvious White-faced Ibises around it. Rather, it seems to have a dark face and a thinner, silvery line of facial skin.

However, I agree that it's probably not enough to say for sure.

I have really been enjoying this thread, by the way!

I've done a really poor job of keeping up with this series, but in my defense, I have been really busy with all the things that brought me back to the USA in the first place.

The immediate good news is that I set what I thought to be an over ambitious goal for myself of increasing my USA life list from the rather paltry 100 species to 200 species observed. That 100 is actually only for the short times that I have spent in America since taking up birding. It probably would have been over that goal of 200 anyway if I had actually kept track of observations prior to that time. The good news is that at this point I have reached 210 species for the USA and another 207 for Mainland China as well as a paltry 9 managed just before the typhoon arrived during my one quick trip to Hong Kong. Total species observed adds up to 408 after allowing for overlapping species between the Old and New World birds.

Since I'm returning to Panjin, Liaoning, China a week from today and have only just yesterday finally managed to catch up with at least the basics of getting photo processing and ebird reports up-to-date, it is obvious that the best thing at this point is to just relate some of the high points of my birding in the USA.

Quivera National Wildlife Refuge

People all over the world have heard about the magnificent National Parks in the United States, but especially for birders, they also have a many National Wildlife Refuges scattered mostly though the lesser populated areas of the USA. These provide some excellent birding and because of my age, I was able to purchase a lifetime Senior Pass good for National Parks or National Wildlife Refuges.

One of the premier NWR that I have had the opportunity to visit twice this year is the Quivera National Wildlife Refuge. This is 22,000 acre (almost 9,000 hectare) area of naturally occurring salt marshes and man made marsh, which make for some excellent birding. The Park Rangers always seem to warn you that it is a wildlife area, not a National Park and that means that the roads may be minimally maintained and human comforts are highly limited. As a result the birding is great and you don't have the crowds of a Park. All in all, it is actually very similar to birding the marshes in Panjin. It is a naturally occurring stop over for many of the birds migrating along the Central US flyway.

I made two trips on April 10th and September 9th, 2019 and as luck would have it, both were rainy days where I was forced off the refuge due to the dirt roads beginning to deteriorate after a few hours. Nevertheless, both were enjoyable birding trips with more than enough to keep me busy.

Among the better finds were the American Avocet which were generally hiding towards the back of the large salt lakes. This particular individual had me puzzled at first until I realized it was not swimming, but rather wading hip deep. Nearby were a few Black-Necked Stilt which were equally photogenic.

Stilt Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Sandpiper were scattered about, but very shy, which with the rain made photos difficult. The best surprise was when processing photos later I discovered some Wilson's Phalarope just visible through the rain and poor light.

Northern Shoveler and Mallard were both common as were American White Pelican and Double Crested Cormorant tended to be found together. In small numbers were Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Northern Pintail and such were also present. The usual Great Blue Heron, Great Egret and a few Little Blue Heron were also scattered about.

Considering that I was not visiting during the migration peaks, this is an excellent birding spot that one should not pass up if they ever happen to be passing through the empty spaces of central Kansas. During the right times one even has a good chance of finding a few or the rare, but slowly recovering Whooping Crane.

Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge

Just north of the previously mentioned Quivera Wildlife Refuge is a site run by the State of Kansas, Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge. This is another natural salt water marsh area taking in 41,000 acres (aprox. 16,600 hectare).

After getting rained out of Quivera for the second time, I took time to catch lunch in Great Bend Kansas and after the rain let up I decided to try Cheyenne Bottoms. I had to rush the visit as more rain was building up to the west, but it proved to be as attractive to wildlife as Quivera NWR, but in a more compact setting.

Again, it was not the peak of migration yet, but the site obviously holds real promise if visited at the right times. There were huge flocks of White Pelican practically covering two large ponds which, unfortunately were not accessible due to roads being closed due to high water damage earlier in the season. I did get some long range shots though.

The usual Herons, Egrets, Cormorants and such were also scattered about. Both are a long way from anything, but would be worth a visit during peak migration as as well as a plethora of migrants of all types stopping to rest and feed, you would even have a chance at the still endangered but recovering Whooping Crane as well as the common Sandhill Crane that they associate with. All in all two poorly known and visited birding sites that can be extremely productive.