Friday, April 13, 2018

Pawnee Lake

This is the second most popular lake for birding in the county. Habitat is much the same as Branched Oak, but being smaller, you can manage what views of the lake you can get in 1-2 hours.  Areas start at the marina as Area 1 and then go clockwise (so you have to drive on blacktop around the lake to get to the separate Areas 2 and 3) The parking lot on the West side is closed in winter, so as soon as the lake melts, it is more of a hassle to see from the West side except the very South end by the dam. The pictures below the map can be enlarged by clicking them.


The birds have been good for a while. Loons were easy to find this week.



I had eared grebes there two years, this year had at least the one horned grebe.



I've had a Swainson's hawk there but can't find the picture just now. Pipits can be found at the rocks near the dam as well as spotted sandpipers in summer. Other sandpipers are few but there was a bit of mud this year. Baird's and Yellowlegs, both.





And there may be a lot of cormorants and pelicans.


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Songbirds and signs of spring

Many birds today, counted 41 species in an hour. Just regular birds, a few sparrows. Aside from song sparrows a few fox sparrows.


Meadowlarks singing.


Where I expected maybe pipits, a Savannah sparrow.


Wood duck pair at Holmes lake.




Soon a whole lot more songbirds and shorebirds show up. Had Baird's and both yellowlegs.


Migration seems to be in full swing. On Apr 14th there was a large fallout of all kinds of migrants. I may be able to catch the tail end of this, as it is quite windy and the stopped migrants may stay an extra day. Other than that, summer residents for the county are coming, such as this Eastern Phoebe.


I always look at the red-winged blackbirds for yellow-headed blackbirds. Among grackles you may find some bird that looks different, such as this one:

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Praire Chickens

Out near McCook and near the Kansas border out there. They are a type of grouse of the open prairie. They are found in the sandhills, mostly the shorter mixed grass prairie.







It's almost impossible to catch the claws out fights in that light with my equipment. They did not want us using a flash. even if you had professional cameras. Here is a still from a video and the short video following.





A wider view of the lek and the goings on: