Day 7

One week is now in the books and I must say this is not how I thought it would go. Storms in Texas made a trip south impossible and two arctic vortexes meant very cold temps up north. So in the end I stayed in the KC area. Weather forecasts on the 3rd and 4th called for snow, ice, and bitter cold, but as usual they were wrong. So I wasted 2 days on the couch, but it really didn't make a huge difference.

Total Species - 84
MO Species - 71
KS Species - 62

Notable finds are the Townsend's Solitaire still showing at Shawnee Mission Park, Thayer's Gull mixed with 4 other Gulls at Smithville Lake, all 7 species of Woodpeckers, and Barred, Great Horned, Eastern Screech, and Barn Owls. My trips to see the Long-Eared and Short-Eared have turned up nothing. Of course the biggest birding news is the historic arrival of an Ivory Gull in Quincy, Ill with some spillover to the Missouri side of the line. I plan to visit it in about 3 days as part of my trip through Michigan and Minnesota. Hopefully it stays put until then.

The smaller lakes and ponds are frozen solid right now, but the large lakes are okay. Temperatures today, tomorrow, and Friday are cold, but the wind chills are almost unbearable. At one point today I could no longer feel much from the waist down and my face was totally numb. But no regrets. I'm all in and tomorrow is another chance to brave the elements and find a few more birds.

Things I still need to find include Eurasian Collared-Dove, Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Rusty Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Horned Lark, Trumpeter Swan, Northern Pintail, Killdeer, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. I'm already feeling lucky for tomorrow...

What's This All About

With 2014 drawing to a close my focus has turned to the new year, new adventures, and new birds. As a relatively new birder (started 3 years ago) I have spent the majority of my time birding locally; i.e. within 150 miles of home. Doing so has given me a great understanding of birding in Kansas and Missouri, but not much experience birding anywhere else. I want to change that. 2015 will be my big year. No I'm not going to Alaska. No I'm not going to see 700 species of birds. But I am going to explore the country, meeting lots of new birding friends, and learning all I can about each and every place I visit.