Just two days prior to this outing, the landscape had been fairly brown – with minimal snow cover – but the snowstorm from the day before brought about 6-7 inches. Unfortunately, the snow and slippery roads resulted in cancellations from a number of field trip registrants. Despite that, however, there were still seven of us who gathered on the morning of February 16, with three cars in our caravan.
The group braving the cold: Tom Schultz
The temperature was pretty chilly (only 16 degrees), with cloudy skies, light snow, and a brisk NNW blowing at 15-20 mph. The fresh, blowing snow meant that some of the smaller roads that we might normally try driving were impassable – but we also hoped that the white ground cover would also help to make prairie-chickens more visible.
This hope turned out to be correct, because we were able to spot quite a few GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKENS in various places! This was really great, because this is always our number one target bird for the Buena Vista field trip. Some were feeding in snowy fields, some were observed in flight, and some were perched on the branches of trees – which provided us with our best looks.
Greater Prairie-Chicken: Tom Schultz
Along the way, several ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS were spotted, as well as a RED-TAILED HAWK. This always seems to be a good area for raptors, with the grasslands obviously providing them with a good supply of mice and voles. Along the roadsides we saw a few flocks of AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS and DARK-EYED JUNCOS, and we flushed a few HORNED LARKS in a couple of spots.
Rough-legged Hawk: Tom Schultz
Along our drive we also encountered MOURNING DOVES, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, AMERICAN CROWS and BLUE JAYS (no ravens were encountered this year), as well as DOWNY, HAIRY and PILEATED WOODPECKERS. Another target bird that we spotted – actually in two different places – was NORTHERN SHRIKE, and the second bird provided very nice looks.
Northern Shrike: Tom Schultz
It was a cold day, but fortunately most of our birding was done from inside the cars, so it wasn’t too bad to be out and about. We finished up a little before 11:00, with the temperature only having risen one degree. Thanks to everyone who attended, and to Jeff Baughman for co-leading this trip. It was a fun day for anyone wishing to see prairie-chickens!
Tom Schultz, WSO Field Trips
