KU museum team spots 220 species during annual bird-watching marathon

LAWRENCE -- A team of ornithologists sponsored by the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center nearly reached the record for the number of bird species counted in Kansas in a single day during this year's Bird-a-Thon.

The team counted a total of 220 species, just five short of the record the same team set last year during the museum's annual bird-watching project, part of a 32-year tradition of Big Days, bird-watching competitions governed by the American Birding Association.

The count was conducted May 13. The association requires that each member of a Big Day team remain within hearing of all other members throughout the excursion and that all team members observe at least at least 95 percent of the species. The event must occur during a single calendar day.

The team began the day at midnight at the Konza Prairie near Manhattan, where they recorded several tallgrass prairie species, such as greater prairie-chicken, Henslow's sparrow and upland sandpiper. At 3 a.m., they visited the Baker Wetlands south of Lawrence, where they witnessed a major movement of nighttime migrants, dominated by thrushes. They heard hundreds of birds, primarily thrushes, calling overhead.

At dawn the team was at the Leavenworth Bottoms at Fort Leavenworth, where they recorded many woodland species, including 26 warbler species. Late in the morning, they went around Clinton Lake near Lawrence, where they spotted nesting bald eagles and the rainbow-colored painted bunting. The next stop was a cemetery at Junction City where they found red-breasted nuthatch and pine siskin. Two western species, the rock wren and Say's phoebe, were added at Wilson Reservoir. At 4:30 p.m. the burrowing owl, whose populations are declining, was found at a prairie dog town near Cheyenne Bottoms in Barton County. The team spent the next two hours at Cheyenne Bottoms adding shorebird and marsh-inhabiting species.

The last stop of the marathon day was at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Stafford County, where a number of waterfowl and shorebirds were identified. The final species was the secretive black rail, which was heard at 9 p.m. The team covered a grueling 568 miles during the event.

The Bird-a-Thon raises funds for field studies by KU graduate students studying ornithology by soliciting pledges of gifts based on the number of species counted. Contributors pledge gifts ranging from 10 cents to $5 a species. People wanting to make gifts this year should contact the museum and research center at (785) 864-3657.