Our marsh is very quiet right now. A few Sandpipers, lots of ducks and the Pelicans have arrived. Sandhill Cranes have mostly moved north, and the Whoopers have not yet arrived. There are no egrets, herons (except Great Blues that wintered over), Avocets, or Rails. It seems like everything is just getting ready to break into the fever of the migration.
That being said, I decided it was time for a road trip. My cousin, Jack Woodville London and his wife Alice live in Austin and I don’t get to see them often enough. He is a talented author and teaches me things about syntax that escaped me in English class. Writing this column has tested and overwhelmed my literary skill at times and I am grateful to several people for their wisdom and advice.
I stayed in Austin two days and then moved on to San Antonio to see Dodge and Lorna Engleman who are originally from Salina and are bird watchers extraordinaire. They go on a major birding trip 3-4 times per year-- their next trip is to rural China and they are excited. Dodge took me to a birding site close to San Antonio where we saw this cousin of a Cardinal called a Pyrrhuloxia. It is very shy and quick-- I was fortunate to get this picture. We also saw a Least Grebe and several other birds that don’t come to Kansas.
There is one spot in Kansas where a lot of western birds visit and congregate in numbers large enough to attract lots of birders and that is Elkhart. I was amazed at the numbers of unusual birds that we saw. It is a little secret birders paradise.
Our marsh is getting low on water. A couple of inches would also be good for our farming friends. There will be big news at the Bottoms when I write the next column since the migration will have started.
Michael Pierce from the Wichita Eagle gave a wonderful program and prepared several dishes from his cookbook (for sale at KWEC) and made goose taste like roast beef this past Sunday. I’m serious!! It was magic!!
I’m glad to be home-- way too much traffic in Texas.
Doc