Kansas

Before getting to my couch for the night in Hutchinson, I briefly stopped at the local Dillon Nature Center. While I didn't see any new species, I did come across this diminutive CANADA GOOSE, which is either a Richardson's or Lesser subspecies. I thin that's the first time I've ever noticed a significant size difference, which was obvious since it was hanging out with Common ones.


When I got to Kalene and Jason's house, they were maing a tofu stir fry for me and their pastor's family. They home was an old farmhouse which they were restoring- with the upstairs still being incomplete. I had an awesome night talking religion and politics with my new Mennonite friends.

This morning I headed to Quivira NWR, which was about a 45 minute drive. It was pretty unproductive in the beginning, until I came across the Big Salt Marsh. There were tons of ducks and shorebirds, amny of which were difficult to identify for me because I don't have a scope. I was able to pull out some of the more obvious birds here for my list, which included AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, AMERICAN COOT, WHITE-FACED IBIS, and WILSON'S SNIPE.


On my way out of the refuge, I noticed a juvenile SWAINSON'S HAWK in a field that was currently being plowed. He took off right after this picture.


At Cheyenne Bottoms, kind of the kid sister refuge to Quivira, there was an unbelievable amount of shorebirds. I was getting pretty frustrated with my skills and physical resources for this mission. I was able to pick out BLUE-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN AVOCET, and NORTHERN SHOVELER, but not any of the little dudes. I found an elderly gentleman sitting with a scope at one of the ponds, with his wife sitting bored in the car. I parked near him and struck up a conversation with him. He let me take a look at the SNOWY PLOVER that he had picked out of the pile of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS on one of the banks. I felt a little better.

At about 2, I headed west. While driving the long, flat ride in the rain, I switched some plans around. Since it was 30ish degrees with possibilities of snow in Colorado Springs, I decided to wait on camping there for a different night. I came instead to Boulder, to stay with Rosana's friend Emily's family. Now I'm clean and ready to do my research for tomorrow.

It's time to put the Eastern Sibley away.