So far this spring, several rarities have been reported throughout the Midwest states. With huge movements of birds in the past few days alone, some of the major rarities have been a Spotted Redshank located in Southern Indiana and 2 Ruffs (one in Wisconsin and one now in Ohio). While these birds seem like a mini roadtrip, keep in mind that the European species, Spotted Redshank, has only been reported in the US 5 times in the last 20 years! 1 report from the west coast, 3 on the east coast and this bird is a first for the Midwest! Perhaps if I find some time and extra money I'll make the trek myself before it moves on...
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| Blue-winged Teals migrating north despite the dense fog (photo by JohnRyan Polascik) |
Lucky for us, Kentucky has been no stranger to rarities this year. In fact, one showed up right in our area! This past Sunday, Tanner and I spend the morning birding Lexington and some of the surrounding areas. Our goal for the morning was locating an adult male Cinnamon Teal reported on 3/28 by Jeff Sole. Being from the Midwest and east coast, both Tanner and I have never had the opportunity to seen a Cinnamon Teal (a primarily western waterfowl). We arrived at the pond where the bird was reported around 8:30 hoping the bird didn't move on. We received a storm the night before, so chances were good the bird was grounded for the night. Despite the foggy and rainy conditions, we located the bird within minutes. The striking overall red appearance of the bird is unmistakable. Even under the dimly lit conditions, the bird was easily spotted from the road. We found him foraging in the shallow part of the pond along with nearly two dozen male and female Blue-winged Teals. For most of our time there, he was displaying aggressively towards the other teals and attempting to court one of the female Blue-winged Teals. While this bird was no Ruff or Spotted Redshank. The luxury of having a rare bird show up just minutes from where we live somehow makes it even more satisfying.
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| An adult male Cinnamon Teal along with male and female Blue-winged Teals (photo by JohnRyan Polascik) |
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An adult male Cinnamon Teal along with male and female Blue-winged Teals (photo by JohnRyan Polascik)
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After about an hour of watching this gorgeous bird, we decided to check a few other reservoirs while we were in the area. We decided to head back downtown to check up on the Lexington reservoirs. The only highlights were 5 common loons, several Savannah Sparrows, FOY Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, 1 Red-breasted Merganser and a dozen Bonaparte's Gulls.
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| A particularly difficult Savannah Sparrow (photo by JohnRyan Polascik) |
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First of Year Barn Swallow cruising along the Lexington reservoir (photo by JohnRyan Polascik)
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| Bonaparte's Gulls molting into their breeding plumage and resting up for their migration (photo by JohnRyan Polascik) |
Overall, it was a great morning of birding despite the rainy conditions. We saw over 50 species in just a few hours and to top it off, Tanner and I both got the Cinnamon Teal lifer which puts me at 153 species for the year. I doubt this is the end of the rarities to show up in Kentucky and it certainly isn't the end of migration. Stay tuned.
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