I spent Wednesday night in the Cimarron National Grasslands in a campsite surrounded by small ponds and of course there where birds. Mostly the usual crowd i have become acquainted with, orchard orioles and red-headed woodpeckers eastern kingbirds and a mockingbird keeping a close watch. No more Scissor-tailed flycatchers however. Cimarron is much dryer and marks there transition into short grass prairie. The river itself stays mostly dry but there is mud and puddles from recent rains.
Yesterday i covered a lot of ground starting with the Great Plains Nature Center, being a customer for a number of years, has been on my wish list to visit. Just outside Wichita it is popular with city folk getting their exercise on the numerous pathways with clumps of trees and old fence rows and riparian thickets breaking up restored prairie with plenty of flowers in bloom. The center and gift shop were open so i was able to introduce myself for once in person.
Richard, working in the shop, set me up for my next adventure recommending I drive through the Gypsum Hills. Further southeast of Wichita there is a scenic road that loops through it. Here the monotonous flat crop lands give over to grassy bluffs red outcrops where ever the underlay rock is visable. It is a beautiful landscape and a shame there is no park here. Not sure who owns it but it is mostly open range. Lots more Scissor-tailed along the route and I am happy to stop and watch.
I did drive through Wichita to stop at the Botanical Gardens which was also recommended. Their koi fish are real beggars and where the path parallels their waterways they will follow you. It’s well worth the visit. I wish I had more time to explore Wichita but its midday and I am still heading to Cimarron.
Late in the day I passed through Liberal Kansas where there is a replica of Dorothy’s house from the Wizard of Oz. It closed at 5 but you can still walk right up to it . There are a bunch of cheesy cutouts which are distracting so I did not include a photo. You will have to visit Liberal Kansas yourself.
So this brings me up to Thursday when I spent the morning exploring Cimarron. The old Santa Fe trail passed through here so there are some interesting historical landmarks. I started seeing lots of Western Kingbirds and a rock wren. Red-headed woodpeckers are everywhere. I was really hoping to see a scaled quail but no luck. I did not see any of the other specialties of this location like Cassin’s Sparrow. Both are can be secretive in mid summer. In contrast, the cottonwoods of the riverbed seem to be alive with young families of woodpeckers and orioles.
After my morning exploration I drove a few miles south to the town of Elkhart where the waste water treatment plant is friendly to birders, they even have a sign welcoming them. There is a Black-crowned Night Heron rookery here and I saw at least two flying in and out of a dense grove of trees surrounding a pond. The treatment ponds are cement lined and surrounded by precarious roads you are allowed to drive on but better not to take your eyes off of steering while you are moving the car, important for birders to remember anyhow but critical here. I also saw a pair of swanson’s hawks which would be my second siting so far. In the cemetery near by there were great-tailed grackles and a Mississippi Kite passing over. I have been seeing lots of those since Wichita.
Both Cimarron and Elkhart have a lot more to offer during fall and spring migrations when the ponds and the natural river bed become a magnet for migrating birds.