Greeting the Birds of a New Year

In early and mid December, I spotted 2 Least Sandpipers at the Bois D'Arc Conservation Area just a little northwest of Springfield. When the new year came around, I decided to see if the hardy little shorebirds had managed to remain in spite of sub freezing temperatures in recent days. The peeps were gone, but replacing them was a flock of at least 9 American Pipits, another Ozarks winter rarity. A couple of them posed nicely for the winter afternoon photographs.

Just down the road, I spotted my first winter Wood Duck in several years. This one is arguably the most beautiful North American duck, and it is always a joy to take in its glorious plumage.A couple Red-tailed Hawks in the area made me take a second look in hopes of turning up a Rough-legged Hawk, but neither passed the test for dark wrists. Here's their pictures, nevertheless.
The most exciting sighting of the day, however, came when I least expected and was too quick to get a picture. Looking into a barn that I have checked a 1000 times unsuccessfully, I encountered a Barn Owl high in the rafters! At the instant I saw it, it swooped through the exit. I briefly looked for it outside of the barn, but a pang of guilt swept over me. I hope it returns, and brings with it a mate. For now, I'll keep its location on the down low, and hope that spring brings fledglings!

January is looking ok. A day earlier, I picked up Winter Wren, Red-shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Bald Eagle at Linden, all while playing disc golf. Yesterday there were 21 Black Vultures feasting on a deer carcass on the roadside near the Springfield Nature Center. It seems I haven't even tried, and my year list currently stands at 47 species. Plans to check some lake and ponds tomorrow to add some waterfowl. Who knows where this will end?

Lockwood Luxuries

In hot pursuit of a Northern Shrike spotted by Charley Burwick, Lisa Berger, and David Ringer last weekend, I bee lined to a largely agricultural area north of Lockwood on both Monday and Friday this week. Although the Monday trip did not result in the NSHR, I was not disappointed.

A light dusting of snow in the area made Monday a day for Longspurs. I ran into 3 mixed flocks of Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. With snow these little guys are a little easier to find, but locating them in a picture is still very difficult. I shot at least 20 photos and came out with only one that clearly identifies the species.
On the way home from Lockwood on Monday, I decided to stop by a mudflat area in the Bois D'Arc Conservation Area to check for late shorebirds. I found these two Least Sandpipers hanging out with the regular Killdeer and occasional Wilson's Snipe found during Ozark winters. After running a few errands on Friday, I realized that I had a window of opportunity to dash out to Lockwood once again. I called Charley and he was up for another search of the Lockwood area. Not long after leaving the main highway to the region, we saw a flock of 80 Lapland Longspurs scattered across a field. Shortly thereafter, 40 Brewer's Blackbirds were spotted sharing a tree with a Red-tailed Hawk. I was surprised when I entered my observation of these Brewer's Blackbird on e-bird, the sighting required confirmation by a reviewer. I saw flocks of them on both days, and they are truly winter regulars in the Lockwood area. I was intriqued by a MoBird post this week by Larry Herbert of Joplin. He said that of the 10 or so Northern Shrikes that he has seen in his lifetime, 8 have been associated with brush piles, and that is true of this Lockwood shrike. The second brush pile from the left that this particular shrike inhabited is clearly visible on Google maps. It must be a fairly recent picture.
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And, On this day, the Northern Shrike was right where he was supposed to be, on the second brush pile. One year ago, on December 8, I saw my first Northern Shrike, but it was not in a brush pile nor was it as cooperative as this one was. All the key field marks are visible in the photos. Take a look!
It would have been a wonderful 2 hours of birding if it had ended there. But one mile south of the Northern Shrike, we were delighted to spot a Prairie Falcon zipping low down the road in front of the car. We were lucky enough to observe the restless bird briefly as it sat on a fence post, and then we flushed it to another fence row and I got a great swing by look at it as it darted for cover. Although this isn't my photo, it certainly is a picture etched in my memory. Although I believe I had a very brief glance at the bird on Monday, this look would go down as my first Missouri Prairie Falcon. Just after a look like the one below, the bird hung a sharp left and I clearly saw the dark wingpits. Check! Got it!

Photo by Doug Backlund at http://pie.midcoat.net/dougback/North%20Cave%20Hills.htm

Since I had another committment at 4:00, we headed for home. The drive home was largely uneventful except for a nice look at a Black Vulture soaring over the Springfield Conservation Nature Center. Some days, like this Friday, the great birding boils down to a couple hours in the field. Guess that is proof that anything can happen the instant you slip out that front door!

Bois D'Arc Boids

The advantage of semi-retirement is the fact that it provides opportunities for spontaneous birding with my retired friends. Realizing that I would be finished with my day's work at 8:30 Thursday, I e-mail Charley early to see if he was into slipping out into the field for a few hours. It wasn't long before my cell phone rang, and by 9:00 am, we met on the banks of Lake Springfield. After a suggestion from Charley's wife Lisa, we headed to Bois D'Arc Conservation Area to scout it out for Spraque's Pipit.

Well, that seemed like a long shot, but even a Sedge Wren would be a lifer for me, and both species were definitely possibilities in Bois D'Arc habitat.

The Missouri Department of Conservation is primarily an agency that serves hunters, in spite of the fact that all Missourians pay a 1/8 cent sales tax for conservation. Bois D'Arc Conservation Area is clearly designed and managed for hunters. An extensive shooting range lays in the middle of acres of brushland, largely choked with autumn olive and other non native and native shrubs, specifically managed to increase the carrying capacity of White tailed Deer, Wild Turkey, Bobwhite, and Eastern Cottontail.

For we birders, the small amount of the CA left in native grassland still attracts one of my favorite sparrow species, the LeConte's. Usually best viewed when a large group of birders circles around the ground dweller and "pens" it in, we managed to get excellent views with only two of us closing in on the bird.

You can clearly see the bird in the lower right corner, and Charley very nearby!

A very cooperative bird!

After our sparrow encounter, we went to a mudflat on the reserve. There we were delighted to find several shorebirds and others still hanging around on this November day. Highlights were Wilson's Snipe, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Greater Yellowlegs, and American Pipits.

One of many Wilson's Snipe and one of 3 Least Sandpipers in the flooded field.


A single Dunlin remained in the area.


One of the two Greater Yellowlegs we spotted.

American Pipits were plentiful on the flats.

Grassland Gems

Our first fall blast descended into Missouri this week, and avian friends that we haven’t seen since last spring returned to visit. Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and others inhabited Lincoln's Sparrow by Marvin DeJong
the brushy edges of the Ozarks once again.
This day the winter residents and other migrants took second seat to two elusive migratory grassland sparrows, LeConte’s and Henslow’s. The Greater Ozarks Audubon Society’s annual quest took us to the hunter managed and dominated Bois D’Arc Conservation Area 20 miles northwest of Springfield.
I spend a lot of time birding by myself or with one other friend, but one’s odds of seeing these two species are greatly increased by the presence of a coordinated crowd of birders. Most of the birders attending today’s field trip were veterans of last year’s trip, when we had soul satisfying views of a LeConte’s and a Henslow’s, both in a single binocular view, begging for our careful observation and analysis of differences. The image lingered in our memories as we recalled our lucky day.
Because of their skulking nature and mouse-like running behavior (the sparrows, not the birders!), six observers is the minimum number needed to isolate and view LeConte’s and/or Henslow’s. The technique reminds me of childhood days of upland game hunting. We form a line and string out across the grasslands to cover more territory. These sparrows prefer the shorter areas of the prairie, those either burned or grazed to prevent the dense mesh created by the 6-8 feet tall bluestems, switch, and Indian grasses of the tall grass prairie. We flush our first LeConte’s of the day from the one to two foot high grasses. In flight it appears light gray and weak. It flies less than 50 feet. We surround the bird, closing in on it from all sides. We approach within 5 feet or less, the bird flushes and flies a shorter distance this time. We surround the bird again and again, until the bird has little additional energy to evade us. It is then that, as my birding friend Lisa said, “we can have our way with it”. The tiny, short tailed LeConte’s Sparrow perches on a stem less than 5 feet away from the entire group. Its orange face glows from amid the grasses. Purplish nape becomes visible to all. White medial stripe on top of head appears. Smiles all around for a mission accomplished.
Since I left my camera in the car, I ran ½ mile back to the car to get it. Shortly after I returned, the group closed in on another LeConte’s. Not as cooperative as the first bird, this one dove for the dense vegetation. Regardless, I snapped off a few pictures, one of which is on the left. The LeConte's is in the center of the picture, just to the left of the beige stem.
Later, the group split up as Charley and I bushwhacked through the dense thickets. Emerging from the thick vegetation, we flushed a dark bird out of the grasses. This bird flew less than 10 feet. We closed in without the help of our group this time. The bird flushed again as we noted its streakiness in addition to its dark back as it dove into the grasses. Even knowing exactly where the bird went down, however, we were unable to kick it out of the grasses this time. Almost certainly, however, we had a Henslow’s Sparrow.
Exploration of additional areas uncovered numerous White throated, White Crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrow, a few Field Sparrows, a Common Yellowthroat, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Nashville Warbler, and all the regulars. A Cooper’s Hawk soared overhead against the autumn sky to put the crown on a satisfying birding morning.