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| "Buckle up, everyone! It's a long way to get there!" "Unless someone wants to play travel Othello, I'm going to catch a little shut-eye." |
We saw a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of this on the way down:
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| Windmills, old and new |
Not bad for out the window with her iPhone, while Dad goes 75 mph, right?
The first birdie we saw at Quivira was this one:
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| Black-Necked Stilt |
In a post we did in May, we told you about how long their legs are. Mom was thrilled to get his entire legs AND feety-feet in this shot. Now you can see why they're called "Stilts"!
We saw a few of these Sandpipers:
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| White-Rumped Sandpiper |
And quite a few Phalaropes:
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| Wilson's Phalaropes, male (left) and female (right) |
And then ... we hit pay dirt!!! We found THE rare-to-Kansas bird!
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| Reddish Egret! |
Isn't he beautiful?!!? Check out the range map at this link, and you will understand just how exciting it was to see him in Kansas!!! Mom's hunt was a success! And ...
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| "I see a FISHIE!!!" |
... it looks like his was, too!
We also saw Mom's favorite little birdie:
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| ❤ The Snowy Plover ❤ |
Mom added those hearts.
Maggie was watching this little Plover through the window of the HR-V and thought he was play-bowing to us!
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| "Seriously. Is he cute enough?!?!" |
Sorry. That was Mom. Anyway, he was actually practicing some nest-guarding behavior. Having been a parent myself, I think that is just awesome!!! Maybe they are my favorite little birdie, too!
Maggie, the Reddish Egret, and I weren't the only redheads at the refuge! We spotted these ducks:
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| Redhead Ducks |
Gotta love our fellow redheads!
There were plenty of Pelicans swimming around:
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| American White Pelicans |
And a good number of Avocets. Check out this group:
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| American Avocets, Snowy Plovers, a Dunlin, and a Northern Shoveler in the background! |
Look at all those Plovers!!!!! Oh! And the Dunlin -- that's a "lifer" for Mom! (A bird she's never seen in person before.) She was all kinds of excited.
Here's an Avocet in flight:
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| American Avocet and 10,000,000 bugs |
What can I say? It's a marsh. Bugs thrive there. Mosquitoes, Dragonflies, Flies ... every biting, stinging ... sorry. That's Mom again.
Here's the last birdie was saw before heading to Cheyenne Bottoms:
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| Pied-Billed Grebe |
They are very small, so Mom was thrilled to see one relatively close!
Please tune back in tomorrow for the rest of our hunt!
Cammie!
Oh wow, what an amazing variety you got to see and what a score to see that beautiful Mr Egret!
ReplyDeleteI am certain Mr Plover wanted to play with you Maggie, did you teach him his playbow tactics?
Loves and licky kisses
Princess Leah xxx
Very nice! Rarely do we see white pelicans around here
ReplyDeleteLily & Edward
Awesome pictures mates!!
ReplyDeleteNukNuk
for being sled dogs, you two are certainly very good at hunting down birds for those great pictures
ReplyDeleteYou saw all kinds of birds! I have never seen any type of egret. All these birds are beautiful. I am very much an amateur at naming birds. We bought some bird guides to help us identify the birds that come to our feeders--the birds that Natasha wants to invite to lunch. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWho knew there were so many birdies in KS!
ReplyDeleteSuch great photos! The reddish egret is such a beautiful color!
ReplyDeleteMags and Cammie your mom is a wild bird whisperer and your dad is an excellent scout
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!!
Hugs madi your bfff and mom
Have you seen every single bird in the world yet, girls?
ReplyDeleteInca xx
What a great hunt adventure you all had!!! And we are glad Mom was successful in finding the reddish egret!! He was so nice to cooperate for the photoshoot too. We saw a gorgeous red cardinal yesterday on our walk. Another redhead, eh?
ReplyDeleteWoos - Lightning and Misty
Oh my goodness, what a wonderful adventure!!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is SO exciting. Your mom is awesome at taking bird photos. The reddish egret with his reflection is an amazing photo. And, I agree that the plovers are incredibly cute.
ReplyDeleteaww, the snowy plover is cute :) concats on the successful hunt! the reddish egret is beautiful. such pawsome pics of all the birdies. thank you for sharing - we are looking forward to part 2!
ReplyDeletepip, smidgen, minnie, hollie, sharpie, ditto, tl
Mom saw the sandpiper and it brought back a memory of doing a report in school about the sandpiper! That was a long time ago BOL!
ReplyDeletehugs
Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel
We love seeing all the birdies you find. That Reddish Egret sure is a great find. We're sure we would never see one up here.
ReplyDeleteAww, the Snowy Plover is the cutest one! It's exciting to see that rare Egrit too though. I'm surprised they allow dogs in a wildlife refuge, dogs aren't allowed in most places on Long Island. No fair! Glad you enjoyed your birdie adventure!
ReplyDeleteLove & biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Aww, the Snowy Plover is the cutest one! It's exciting to see that rare Egrit too though. I'm surprised they allow dogs in a wildlife refuge, dogs aren't allowed in most places on Long Island. No fair! Glad you enjoyed your birdie adventure!
ReplyDeleteLove & biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Wow, that is so interesting that there are so many birds in one place. We see pelicans here on the Atlantic coast, but in Kansas! That's crazy!
ReplyDelete