There are a handful of habits that I have adopted over the years when it comes to birding – or more specifically eBirding – but one of the earliest and most consistent of those habits is my entering of every single raptor that I see into eBird. Going into this year I was curious to see, at the end of the year, just how many raptors I’d seen over the course of my 2025 adventure. I had assumed that, without any competition, Red-tailed Hawk would be far-and-away my most frequently observed species this year due to my reporting of every one I see, and in the first couple weeks of the year that looked to be the case. Then, however, through Texas and Louisiana, American Kestrel caught back up and took the lead, pulling farther and farther away as I traversed the southeastern states. Nevada and California, though, saw the return of the Red-tailed Hawk, which caught up to and nearly tied American Kestrel for the lead spot, though in Utah and Colorado Kestrels firmly re-cemented their lead. Throughout Colorado, however a new contestant entered the fray as well – one much too far behind to catch up in terms of observations on the year, but one that, just maybe, could position itself to pull of a shocking upset and surpass Red-tailed Hawk as my second most observed species for the month of March.
Week Twelve began in an incredibly fun fashion: finally getting my root canal done in Albuquerque. The 17th was by the least amount of birding I have done this year, only submitting a single eBird checklist as my brother and I walked his dogs through his neighborhood. The afternoon and evening were then spent hanging out with my brothers, who I likely will not see again for at least eight or so months. Finally, at around 7pm, I began the long drive to Kansas, taking a slightly less direct route that took me through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles in order to have a more convenient spot to spend the night to break up the drive.
Tuesday morning I slept in a bit later than planned, so my birding began in Oklahoma as I worked my way into southwest Kansas, kicking off proper birding for the week with something that would become a core pillar of the week: incidental raptor checklists. For anyone unfamiliar with eBird protocol, there are (generally speaking) three types of checklists: Incidental, Incomplete, and Complete. A complete checklist, as the name implies, is a checklist in which you are including every single bird you were able to identify; an incomplete checklist is a checklist in which you are not including every single bird you were able to identify. Both complete and incomplete checklists are intended to be used when birding is your primary focus. For when birding is not your primary focus, however, an incidental checklist can be used – and as such is the protocol I use for my practice of submitting every single raptor I see (except, of course, for the ones included in complete checklist when birding is my primary focus.)
Not much time was spent in Oklahoma and by just after 8am I had entered Kansas and began a few hours of birding around the Elkhart area, first visiting the Wastewater Treatment Ponds, which I didn’t see a way to access fully, and then heading to the “shelterbelt” and cemetery. With birds such as Black-billed Magpie, White-crowned Sparrow, and nineteen others, Kansas was on the board! Before heading farther north I made a quick pass through the main stretch of the town of Elkhart to pick up some “city” birds such as House Sparrow and Eurasian Collared-Dove, and then I made my way north to the Cimarron National Grasslands, picking up a Northern Harrier on the way. My first stop at Cimarron, the Point of Rocks Ponds (which were less ponds and more so just somewhat wet vegetations) yielded Marsh Wren. The treeline at Middle Spring yielded Yellow-rumped Warbler and American Tree Sparrow, and at the Point of Rocks I spotted a Great Horned Owl in the trees below the overlook.
As I made my way north from Cimarron to the town of Syracuse I spotted several more Northern Harrier before arriving at Sam’s Pond, where I found a pair of Long-billed Dowitcher as well as some Double-crested Cormorants and a smattering of ducks including Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, and Lesser Scaup. In the town itself I came across a Curve-billed Thrasher, and as I left town along River Road I managed to spot a Syracuse area specialty for Kansas: a Scaled Quail. River road was abound with birds; Northern Harrier, Ferruginous Hawk, Northern Harrier, Western Meadowlark, and… more Northern Harrier. As I continued east along River Road towards the town of Lakin, Western Meadowlarks were by far the most prevalent species, but American Kestrel and, of course, Northern Harrier were abundant as well.
If you can’t tell by now, Northern Harrier were, without a doubt, my flagship bird of my time in Kansas – and over the coming days Harriers would simply blow my mind with how prevalent they were. In Lakin I made a quick stop by the Lakin Wastewater Treatment Ponds before heading on to Lake McKinney, where I had four more Harriers in the span of a few minutes. The Sandsage Bison Range Wildlife Area held a Merlin, some Harris’s Sparrows, and – of course – more Northern Harrier. Finally I ended the day at Concannon State Fishing Lake, where I cleaned up most of my remaining duck needs for Kansas, spotted a pair of Greater Yellowlegs, and added yet more Northern Harrier. I then headed back into the town of Garden City to get some dinner and settle in for the night in the Walmart parking lot. The 18th had been a fantastic day of birding, albeit it was a bit hot, reaching into the low 90’s around mid afternoon.
On Wednesday the 19th, I woke to winds so strong I was almost concerned that my car might be at risk of being toppled, but fortunately the inch or two of compact snow and ice that was caked onto the driver’s side of my vehicle probably helped weigh me down. Overnight the weather had changed from midsummer heat to a true Great Plains blizzard – and while the ~5 inches of snow wouldn’t normally be much of a big deal to me, the 45-50 mile per hour sustained winds which were gusting up to 75 miles per hour definitely made things interesting. I decided to sleep in a bit and wait out the worst of the storm, and by 11am things seemed to have died down and I decided to try my luck heading back north to Concannon. I quickly abandoned that plan, however, when immediately upon leaving the city limits the road conditions deteriorated rapidly and as I scanned in the distance with my binoculars I counted over 20 semi trucks stuck in the ditch, several of which were on their sides. Yeah, no thanks, I guess I can go a day without too much birding! I spent most of the rest of the day at Starbucks before eventually making the decision to head to Dodge City, birding at a few spots along the way and seeing, of course, about a half-dozen Harriers.
The next morning the weather returned to “normal”, and in the morning I met Jeff Calhoun at his house in Dodge City and from there we headed south for a day of birding south of Dodge. Our day got off to a great start with a flushed Short-eared Owl. Soon we were at our first stop of the day: a spot where Jeff has previously had Lesser Prairie-Chicken – and within a few seconds of arriving we heard the lekking displays of a couple of male chickens. Our early morning also brought with it Chestnut-collared Longspur, Ring-necked Pheasant, and… well over a dozen of Northern Harrier. Shortly before our next stop at the Yucca Road Playa we came across a Rough-legged Hawk, and at Yucca we had our first of a couple massive flocks of ducks, the bulk of which were Northern Pintail, but there were also large numbers of Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, and Ring-necked Duck.
If the location “Yucca Playa” sounds familiar, it’s probably because nearly two months ago it hosted a Ross’s Gull – unfortunately though, that bird has been gone for, well, almost two months. There was, however, a far greater variety of birds there now than there were in January aside from just the ducks – Vesper Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Snow Goose, Sandhill Crane, Brown-headed Cowbird, and let’s not forget: Northern Harrier.
Shortly after leaving the playa we spotted a shrike which we initially assumed was going to be a Loggerhead Shrike, but we were (pleasantly) surprised when upon closer examination we realized the bird was in fact a Northern Shrike, a species which is mostly gone from Kansas by this time of year.
As we continued to bird our way down the various backcountry roads of rural Kansas Jeff spotted a bird just off the side of the road, and after backing up we realized that not only was the bird another Lesser Prairie-Chicken like Jeff suspected, but in fact there were 16 of them in the field! We then made a brief stop by the Fowler Wastewater Treatment Plant before heading to the Lakeview Playa, which hosted our second massive duck flock of the day, along with some Yellow-headed Blackbird mixed in with a Red-winged Blackbird flock. On our way to a private ranch which Jeff had access to we found a Say’s Phoebe, and at that ranch itself we saw a Cooper’s Hawk, some Lincoln’s Sparrows, and heard a Hermit Thrush. Not far from that ranch we heard a singing Greater Roadrunner – a bird that I am still fascinated is in the cuckoo family – and saw a large group of Wild Turkey.
At the Clark State Fishing Lake we picked up Great Blue Heron and Belted Kingfisher, but we dipped on the Ladder-backed Woodpecker that have been found there recently as well as the Long-eared Owl that Jeff had previously found roosting in a cedar stand there. From there we began to work our way back to Dodge City, stopping by a now mostly-defunct Prairie Dog town to unsuccessfully try for Burrowing Owl and then swinging by another piece of private property that Jeff has access to for a successful attempt for American Barn Owl – also lucking upon a Sharp-shinned Hawk while there. We made one more brief stop at the Watersports Sandpit before returning to Dodge City, and from there I parted ways with Jeff to head north to Cedar Bluff State Park, where Jeff had provided me with intel on a couple more possible Long-eared Owl locations. On my way from Dodge City to the Page Creek Area of Cedar Bluff State Park I came across another twenty-five different Northern Harrier, and while I was unsuccessful in my attempts to locate a Long-eared Owl in the area I still had a fantastic evening, night, and morning of birding there with several Short-eared Owl, some Cedar Waxwing, a large group of American White Pelican, several Great Horned Owl, and an Eastern Screech-Owl.
After spending the night there and doing a bit more birding in the morning I made my way west towards Scott City, where at the Scott State Park I met legendary Kansas birders Tom and Sara Shane. Our morning in the state park was mostly uneventful, but we did pick up a Kansas bird for me in the form of Wood Duck. After leaving Scott State Park we made our way to another couple Prairie Dog town, but and at the second of the two we managed to connect with Burrowing Owl. Our time at the dogtown wrapped up my time birding with the Shanes, and from there I began the drive north to Nebraska – spotting a bunch more Northern Harrier along the way, as well as a pleasant surprise of a trio of Greater Prairie-Chicken flying across the road in front of me. As day turned to dusk the harriers were replaced by several Short-eared Owl and some Great Horned Owl perched on telephone wires – one of each of which came just after crossing into Nebraska, giving me two great birds to start my time in the Cornhusker State.
By the time I left Kansas I had reported 120 Northern Harrier spread across 89 observations – giving me more Harrier observations for my first visit to the state than American Kestrel and Red-tailed Hawks COMBINED. I had seen so many Harriers, in fact, that Northern Harrier was now within a single-digit difference in observations for the month of March from Red-tailed Hawk. While Kestrel had a lead for the month that I was sure was impossible to make up, it certainly seemed as though “Marsh Hawk” (one of the nicknames for Northern harrier) had the possibility to be the March Hawk, pulling off March Madness upset the likes of which I would have never predicted. This was a 16-seed (at least in terms of all bird species, not just raptors) up against a 1-seed, and while the 16-seed was being expectedly dominated through the first half they’d now started the second with an unanswered 25-point scoring run and suddenly we had a game on our hands.
I began my birding in Nebraska at the McCook park of Barnett Park, where I got off to a great start picking up birds such as Snow Goose, Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, and an assortment of ducks and songbirds. From there I headed to the Medicine Bay Wildlife Management Area, where I had an incredible hour-and-a-half picking up nearly every expected duck species and a handful of other great birds including Greater Prairie-Chicken and a handful of passerines.
While in the early parts of the day it looked as though Northern Harrier could continue to keep pace with Red-tailed Hawk, as the day went on the 1-seed started to show what made it a 1-seed to begin with. Before Medicine Bay I’d seen five Harriers to three Red-tailed Hawks, but the drive from Medicine Bay to Funk Waterfowl Production Area yielded nineteen Red-tailed Hawks to just two Northern Harrier. At Funk there was another assortment of ducks but nothing new for me as Medicine Bay had done a good job cleaning up my waterfowl needs, and so from there I headed towards the town of Kearney to meet up with Jacob and Caroline Cooper.
Jacob, an Ornithologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and his wife Caroline, a faculty member of the UNK history department, generously offered me their hospitality for my time in Nebraska and, after getting some lunch at Nebraska-specialty fast-food chain Runza, the three of us hit the roads around Kearney to look for flocks of Sandhill Cranes and anything else we could turn up. It didn’t take long to locate the first flock of Cranes – and as we worked our way towards the renowned Rowe Sanctuary we spotted flock-after-flock of thousands of Sandhill Cranes. The cranes hadn’t come into Rowe for the evening yet, but we did pick up Greater Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper there, and as we drove around we came across a wide variety of species such as Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, and Ferruginous Hawk.
Originally Jacob and I had planned to head to a public Sandhill Crane viewing platform near Rowe to watch the cranes come in for the evening, but we were both pretty exhausted and just decided to call it a night, and I made the decision to instead come out in the morning to witness the morning flight. I knew said morning flight was going to be crazy, but nothing could have prepared me for the experience of watching 138,500 Sandhill Cranes take off in waves as dark turned to dawn and dawn turned to day. Once the birds had mostly taken flight I spent the morning driving east along the roads south of the Platte River, coming across thousands more Sandhill Crane and lucking across a group of five Whooping Crane. As my Sunday in Nebraska progressed I began to realize I was getting far closer to the century mark for the state than I had thought possible in this weekend visit, and so I started checking eBird for what birds I could possibly add: at Pawnee Lake State Recreation Area I picked up Common Goldeneye, Canvasback, Red-breasted Merganser, Fox Sparrow and Yellow-rumped Warbler; at Branched Oak State Recreation Area there was a Lesser Black-backed Gull, and at Little Salt Fork Marsh there was a Lesser Yellowlegs.
By the time sunset came at Stagecoach Lake State Recreation Area I found myself at 96 species in Nebraska, soon made 97 with a calling Barred Owl – 37 birds higher than my high-end goal for the two days in the state and a painful total at which to leave the state, but I at least when I return in August it won’t be particularly hard to push into the triple-digits. In addition to absolutely blowing my expectations out of the water, Nebraska also sufficiently blew any hope of Northern Harrier surpassing Red-tailed Hawk for the month out of the water, with 34 Red-tailed Hawk observations to just 11 Northern Harrier. Unless, of course, my second visit to Kansas could prove as spectacular for Northern Harrier as my first visit? Tune in next week to find out, and in the meantime, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
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Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
