Lapland Longspurs 2019

On January 14, 2019, a couple days after a snowstorm, I decided to go searching for lapland longspurs in the Kansas River Valley west of Topeka. The river valley is flat agricultural land with few trees. That is perfect habitat for lapland longspurs. And the best time to search for them is after it snows when they can be found on gravel roads.
After searching for about an hour I came upon a road covered with birds. I knew they were lapland longspurs. I just turned off the truck and set the camera on the side mirror. This is the video I captured. There were at least 200 of them.
Lapland longspurs breed in the arctic but spend their winters in most of the United States. They are called longspurs because of a long claw on their hind toe.
Once I recorded this, a truck drove by and they flew out to the middle of a field. I think I got lucky to be so close to a large group of them.
I hope you get to see lapland longspurs someday as they are such interesting birds.

Savannah or Song Sparrow Feeding 2019

On January 14, 2019, the day after a snow storm, this unusual streaked sparrow showed up in my Topeka Kansas yard. At first I thought it was a song sparrow, as I’ve occasionally had them visit after winter storms. But this sparrow looked different.
To identify this bird we need to look at all of its traits. Both savannah and song sparrow have streaked breasts and both have a central breast spot. A savannah sparrow has finer streaking and a smaller spot than a song sparrow. But those traits are relative and we don’t have a song sparrow for comparison.
Song sparrows appear to have a bigger head and a larger bill than a savannah sparrow. The head and bill on this bird do not look big, but again this isn’t obvious when you don’t have a song sparrow for comparison.
The savannah sparrow has a yellow lore but the song sparrow does not. The lore is the area between the eye and the bill. But in the winter the lore is faded and can be difficult to see. In contrast, the lore is bright yellow during breeding season.
In winter, I think the best way to distinguish a savannah sparrow from a song sparrow is using the length and shape of the tail. The song sparrow has a long tail with a rounded end. The savannah sparrow has a short tail with a notch in the end. The short notched tail is obvious on this bird.
This bird has a small bill, a faint yellow lore, and the short notched tail. Therefore this is a savannah sparrow.
Something I noticed on this sparrow that I do not think is shared on a song sparrow is the two parallel white lines on the sparrows back. Do you know if that is a unique trait of a savannah sparrow?
In the 25 years I’ve been feeding birds in my yard, this is the first time I’ve had a Savannah Sparrow. They generally are seen during spring and fall during migration in Kansas. But they are seen in the country where there are few trees. They are NOT a bird of suburban landscapes.
As far as their presence in winter, they generally are found south of Kansas but a few do remain in winter – more so in the southern half of the state. The fact that they are NOT common winter birds in Kansas and that they are not backyard birds makes it that much more unusual to have one in my yard.
Let’s identify the other sparrows seen in this video
The small gray faced sparrow with a rusty cap is an American tree sparrow.
The larger sparrow with a tan and brown striped head and long tail is a white-throated sparrow.
The dark gray sparrow with the white belly is a dark eyed junco.
All are native sparrows of North America.
Our native sparrows are ground feeders. To attract them to your yard, feed cracked corn or white millet on the ground near cover, such as a shrub or an evergreen. If you don’t have natural cover, construct a brush pile and feed around it. I’ve included some links to bird reference books in the video description.
Thanks for letting me share wtih you my first yard savannah sparrow.

Best Feeder for Ground Feeding Birds 2018

You see, the best feeder is merely feeding a variety of seeds directly on the ground near cover. Most birds are ground feeders and hence that is the best place to feed them.
I mostly feed on the ground under this aromatic sumac shrub. It offers plenty of cover. And birds seek out cover to protect themselves from predators like hawks.
If you don’t have a shrub you can build a brush pile and have instant cover for your birds.
If you have an evergreen like this spruce, feed under and near it. Evergreens provide excellent protection for birds.
The seeds I feed are a combination of cracked corn, white millet, and black oil sunflower seeds. If I had to choose between the three, cracked corn seems to be the favorite among the birds.
It’s important to feed daily but only put out enough food that the birds will eat in one day. If you feed too much at a time, the seed may spoil on the ground. This is especially true if the ground is wet.
Let’s identify the birds coming to eat
Here we have a group of slate colored dark-eyed juncos. The males are dark gray with a white belly. The females are similar but with more brown.
The rusty bird in the upper left is an eastern fox sparrow. Note its gray head and streaked breast. The red bird on the right is a male cardinal. Note its black face and all red body.
The bird in the upper left is a white throated sparrow. Note the dark brown and tan striped head along with the white throat.
The 3 gray birds to the left of the white throated sparrow are house sparrows. The one on the left is a female while the ones with the black chins are males.
I think you will find ground feeding satisfying as you will attract a great variety of birds. Just remember to feed near cover and only feed as much food as the birds will eat in a day.

St Marys Christmas Bird Count Results Jan 1, 2019

Jan 1, 2019 St Marys CBC participants at lunch

About the Audubon CBC

Since 1900, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) uses volunteers to track bird populations by holding local counts across North and South America. Counts are held between December 14 and January 5 and are composed of volunteers of all birding levels to count birds in the field and at their feeders. Volunteers count birds and tally them by species within a 15 mile diameter count circle. 

About the St Marys CBC

The St Marys circle is centered at the intersection of K-63 & US-24.  It encompasses parts of Jackson, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, and Wabaunsee counties and includes the cities of Belvue, Delia, Rossville, and St Marys,

After a 61 year hiatus, the St Marys CBC was reinitiated for the 2017-18 season.  The first St Marys counts were executed in 1954, 1955, and 1956.  The count circle can be viewed at https://arcg.is/XPG5K.

Count Summary

The count took place on Jan 1, 2019 and was the 2^nd consecutive year since reinstatement.

On the day of the count we had cloudy skies and light wind.  Day time temperatures started at 16 F and only rose to 19 F.  There was no snow on the ground. Large bodies of water were open and most moving water was open. A total of 15 people participated. We had 7 groups of people who birded in the field and only 1 group that watched their feeders. 

We had a total of 27,102 birds counted composed of 67 species for the count day and 4 count week species. Count week species were seen 3 days before or after the count day but not on count day. By far the most abundantly seen species was the Snow goose at 20,683. 

We added 2 new species to the count - purple finch and great-tailed grackle.

We had high counts for many species on the count as compared to previous counts.  Most notable were the 63 Greater Prairie Chickens and 83 Trumpeter Swans.

As far as low counts, we only had one American Robin.

We missed a number of species such as Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Lapland Longspurs.

We had no rare species this year but the prairie chickens and swans were a nice surprise.

I’ve composed three tables:  Counts for the Year, Counts by Year, and Effort by Year.

Counts for the Year

The following table contains Counts for the year.  CW designates count week species.

Species	Total
Snow goose	20683
Ross's goose	10
Cackling goose	12
Canada goose	1179
Cackling/Canada goose	1
Trumpeter swan	83
Northern shoveler	1
Gadwall	6
Mallard	168
Greater/Lesser Scaup	CW
Bufflehead	2
Common goldeneye	98
Hooded merganser	91
Common merganser	179
duck sp.	150
Northern bobwhite	38
Greater prairie-chicken	63
Wild turkey	134
Rock pigeon	152
Eurasian collared-dove	13
Mourning dove	97
Ring-billed gull	22
Larus sp.	1
Great blue heron	1
Northern harrier	15
Cooper's hawk	CW
Bald eagle	18
Red-shouldered hawk	4
Red-tailed hawk	45
Red-tailed hawk (Harlan's)	1
Rough-legged hawk	5
Buteo sp.	5
Great horned owl	1
Barred owl	2
Belted kingfisher	2
Red-bellied woodpecker	52
Downy woodpecker	18
Hairy woodpecker	2
Pileated woodpecker	4
Northern flicker	26
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)	1
American Kestrel	9
Merlin (Taiga)	1
Prairie falcon	1
large falcon sp.	1
Loggerhead shrike	CW
Blue jay	16
American crow	196
Horned lark	75
Black-capped chickadee	24
Tufted titmouse	11
White-breasted nuthatch	13
Brown creeper	1
Winter wren	1
Carolina wren	6
wren sp.	1
Ruby-crowned kinglet	1
Eastern bluebird	43
American robin	1
Northern mockingbird	2
European starling	449
Cedar waxwing	13
House finch	53
Purple finch	7
American goldfinch	82
American tree sparrow	611
Fox sparrow	1
Dark-eyed junco	641
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)	2
White-crowned sparrow	CW
Harris's sparrow	135
White-throated sparrow	3
Song sparrow	8
sparrow sp.	150
Western/Eastern meadowlark	518
Red-winged blackbird	264
Brown-headed cowbird	2
Great-tailed grackle	15
Yellow-rumped warbler	6
Northern cardinal	194
House sparrow	160
Total	27102

Counts by Year

This table contains counts for each year.  Note, zero denotes count week species.

Species	1954	1955	1956	2017	2018
Snow goose				3711	20683
Ross's goose				0	10
Snow/Ross's goose				38500
Greater White-fronted goose				0
Cackling goose				101	12
Canada goose				1625	1179
Cackling/Canada goose				2300	1
Trumpeter swan				14	83
Tundra swan				0
Northern shoveler				2	1
Gadwall				7	6
American Wigeon				3
Mallard	0	650	65	2023	168
Northern pintail				1
Green-winged teal				3
Ring-necked duck				13
Greater scaup				0
Lesser scaup				21
Greater/Lesser Scaup					0
Bufflehead				5	2
Common goldeneye				562	98
Hooded merganser				28	91
Common merganser				49	179
duck sp.				11	150
Northern Bobwhite	0	26	50	40	38
Ring-necked Pheasant			1
Greater Prairie-Chicken	1	55	27	1	63
Wild turkey				7	134
Pied-billed grebe				0
Rock pigeon				115	152
Eurasian collared-dove				43	13
Mourning Dove	36	13	56	76	97
Ring-billed gull				0	22
Larus sp.					1
Great blue heron				2	1
Turkey Vulture				1
Northern Harrier	4	2	0	38	15
Sharp-shinned hawk				1
Cooper's Hawk		1		3	0
Sharp-shinned/Cooper's hawk				1
Bald eagle				68	18
Red-shouldered hawk				5	4
Red-tailed Hawk	11	10	6	130	45
Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis)				1
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)	0			1	1
Rough-legged hawk				3	5
Buteo sp.				2	5
Great Horned Owl	6	4	1	0	1
Barred Owl		2	1	3	2
Belted Kingfisher	2		1	4	2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker			1	7
Red-headed Woodpecker	1
Red-bellied Woodpecker	19	36	16	63	52
Downy Woodpecker	17	25	8	35	18
Hairy Woodpecker	3	2	3	2	2
Pileated woodpecker				2	4
Northern Flicker	3			53	26
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)	36	23	2		1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)	5	1	2
American Kestrel	4	1	2	12	9
Merlin				1
Merlin (Taiga)					1
Prairie falcon				2	1
large falcon sp.					1
falcon sp.				1
Loggerhead Shrike	0	1	2	0	0
Loggerhead/Northern shrike				1
Blue Jay	9	11	4	52	16
American Crow	39	32	39	199	196
Horned Lark	36	40	20	145	75
Black-capped Chickadee	103	106	27	58	24
Tufted Titmouse	19	31	8	20	11
White-breasted nuthatch				12	13
Brown Creeper	5	1		2	1
Winter wren				3	1
Carolina Wren	4	3	1	16	6
wren sp.					1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0			1
Ruby-crowned kinglet				1	1
Eastern Bluebird	26	7	2	90	43
Townsend's Solitaire	1		2
American Robin	194	19	6	183	1
Brown Thrasher	0
Northern mockingbird				5	2
European Starling	29	67	53	2113	449
Cedar waxwing				36	13
House finch				80	53
Purple finch					7
Pine Siskin	18	11
American Goldfinch	41	15	16	88	82
Lapland Longspur	92		300	401
Smith's Longspur	1	0
Field Sparrow	1
American Tree Sparrow	342	336	270	1446	611
Fox sparrow				1	1
Dark-eyed junco				1064	641
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)	153	93	41
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)	3		1	1	2
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided)		1
White-crowned Sparrow	2	0		2	0
Harris's Sparrow	186	79	57	208	135
White-throated sparrow				0	3
Savannah sparrow				1
Song Sparrow	37	4	6	36	8
Lincoln's sparrow				2
Spotted Towhee	17		5	2
sparrow sp.					150
Western Meadowlark	6	1	143
Eastern Meadowlark	4	1
Western/Eastern Meadowlark	29	6	3	974	518
Red-winged Blackbird		212	1500	437	264
Brown-headed cowbird				0	2
Brewer's blackbird				3
Common Grackle		0	0	6
Great-tailed grackle					15
Yellow-rumped warbler				10	6
Northern Cardinal	66	107	87	207	194
House Sparrow	79	85	79	272	160

Effort by Year

This table contains effort for all Count years.

Count Date	Count Year	Field People	Field Hours	Feeder People	Feeder Hours	Count Day Species	Count Week Species	Count Species Total	Bird Total
12/30/1954	1954	3	14.00			37	5	42	1,690
12/30/1955	1955	3	14.50			34	3	37	2,120
12/31/1956	1956	2	9.00			36	2	38	2,914
1/1/2018	2017	16	52.50	3	4.50	78	10	88	57,880
1/1/2019	2018	14	44.25	1	3.00	67	4	71	27,102

Thanks to everyone who helped with the count. If anyone would like to help with the count next year, please contact me. Feeder watchers are especially needed.

Jeff Hansen

St Marys CBC Compiler

jeff.hansen.sd@gmail.com

785.806.6917