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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / Albatrossity / On The Road – Albatrossity – Spring 2021 in Flyover Country – Week 4

On The Road – Albatrossity – Spring 2021 in Flyover Country – Week 4

by WaterGirl|  May 24, 20215:00 am| 17 Comments

This post is in: Albatrossity, On The Road, Photo Blogging

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

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On the Road: Week of May 24  (5 am)

Albatrossity – Spring 2021 in Flyover Country #4
UncleEbeneezer – SE Asia Valentines (Part 5): War Remnants Museum
?BillinGlendaleCA – UCLA
Steve from Mendocino – The Caribbean 4 of 4 – Virgin Islands
way2blue – My Home Town, California

?  And now, back to Albatrossity!

Albatrossity

Week 4 is birds, flowers, and even a surprise snowstorm in April!

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 9
Near Manhattan KSApril 26, 2021

Many of our birds do not migrate, but they do change appearances during the spring season. One of the more obvious of those is this American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), which has mostly changed out of its dingy winter outfit, but still has a few places to fill in with new colorful feathers.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 8
Near Manhattan KSApril 22, 2021

Many of our summer resident hawks have returned from points south, and this is one of those. A very pale and elegant Red-tailed Hawk of the borealis/eastern subspecies (Buteo jamaicensis borealis), which was occupying a fence post that hosted dark northern redtails all winter long. Welcome back!

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 7
Near Manhattan KSApril 21, 2021

Another welcome migrant, but one that is just passing through this part of Flyover Country, is the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). This one is either stretching out some kinks in its legs, or showing off its fine footwear. Coincidentally, the specific epithet is derived from two Latin words that roughly translate to “feet at the buttocks”, describing the very rearward placement of the feet in all grebe species.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 6
Near Manhattan KSApril 22, 2021

Gulls are also moving through Flyover Country in April and May. Large flocks of Franklin’s Gulls often contain one or two oddballs, such as this delicate first-year Bonaparte’s Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia). This species was in the genus Larus until recently, but was placed in this genus based on DNA phylogenetic evidence. Interestingly the name comes from two Greek words, “khroizo” (to color), and “kephale” (head). Adult Bonaparte’s Gulls do have dark-colored heads, as do several other members of this genus. But the genus also includes 2 New Zealand birds, the Red-billed Gull (C. novaehollandiae) and the Black-billed Gull (C. bulleri), which both have plain white heads. Taxonomic revisions don’t always make complete sense…

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 5
Near Manhattan KSApril 27, 2021

The return of the Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) is a welcome sign of spring in Flyover Country. Historically a bird of the southeast US, they have slowly been expanding their range northward and westward. This golden singer of the swamp lights up the forest, even on a rainy day.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 4
Near Manhattan KSApril 24, 2021

Another tiny migrant that will be with us all summer is the Northern Parula (Setophaga americana). These diminutive birds pack a lot of colors into their plumage, and the white eye arcs are the perfect accent to all of those.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 3
Near Manhattan KSApril 25, 2021

The warblers shown above are relatively short-distance migrants, wintering in Mexico and Central America. This Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) is much more of an international traveler, since it winters across the equator in the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. And the summer range doesn’t stop in Kansas, it extends across the Dakotas into the prairie provinces of Canada, westward into Southeastern Alaska, and eastward into Ontario and Quebec. The genus name commemorates William Bartram, one of the earliest naturalists to describe plants and animals from North America.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 2
Near Manhattan KSApril 27, 2021

Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor), one of several North American birds named after another early naturalist, Alexander Wilson (a student of Bartram), is also a trans-equatorial migrant. It winters on high salt lakes in the Andes, and summers across much of the western US and southern Canada. This is a female, who is more colorful than the males. This species also has a dizzying feeding display, in which the birds twirl madly in the water and pick off insects which come to the surface in the vortex.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4
Manhattan KSApril 20, 2021

In late April we had a surprise snowstorm, which dumped 3-5″ of wet snow on our leafy and flowery trees. It melted by mid-afternoon, which means that it snowed twice; once when it fell from the sky and once when it fell from the tree branches in big clumps.

On The Road - Albatrossity - Spring 2021 in Flyover Country - Week 4 1
Konza Prairie Biological StationApril 25, 2021

But the cool spring had one beneficial effect; the redbuds, which are normally abundant and colorful here for about a week, continued to display their vibrant colors for 2-3 weeks. This is a streamside on the Konza Prairie, and it looked like this for multiple weeks!

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Reader Interactions

17Comments

  1. 1.

    p.a.

    May 24, 2021 at 5:46 am

    Great shots!  That is a very handsome gull.  Here in New England our gulls, herring & ring-billed mostly (truthometer: I looked that up) have such a negative image (rats with wings) we tend to forget their looks are understated and elegant.

  2. 2.

    Rob

    May 24, 2021 at 5:52 am

    I love the grebe photo. And the gull is very elegant.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 24, 2021 at 6:43 am

    Coincidentally, the specific epithet is derived from two Latin words that roughly translate to “feet at the buttocks”, describing the very rearward placement of the feet in all grebe species.

    Are grebes like loons in that their legs are so far back on their bodies they can’t walk on land? (learned this about loons when I rescued one from a commercial fishing net it had become entangled in, the best it could do was flop forward until it reached the edge of the dock and flop into the water)

  4. 4.

    KSinMA

    May 24, 2021 at 7:02 am

    Great photos. Loved the video of the Wilson’s Phalaropes!

  5. 5.

    Albatrossity

    May 24, 2021 at 7:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, Grebes can’t walk on land at all, or even get up enough speed to take off and fly from there. There are instances where large flights of them are forced down by weather and they land on surfaces that look like water (roads, roofs, etc.). They can’t take off again from there, and sometimes the results are pretty tragic.

  6. 6.

    Charlie

    May 24, 2021 at 8:42 am

    Sharp images. Well done.

  7. 7.

    eclare

    May 24, 2021 at 8:45 am

    Love the gull photo!

  8. 8.

    Nelle

    May 24, 2021 at 8:56 am

    Back in the days when my husband was a bush pilot in northern Alaska, we noticed that the two or three pilots sort of churned around as they were getting ready for a day of flying, gathering bits of info and gear.  The wife of one said, “Oh, Walt is phalaroping today.”

  9. 9.

    Laura Too

    May 24, 2021 at 8:59 am

    Amazing photos, you are so gifted. Thanks for sharing your talent and knowledge. I always come away with happy feelings-great way to start the week!

  10. 10.

    Benw

    May 24, 2021 at 9:55 am

    Really nice! The birb pics are amazing as always and the snow on the flowers is great.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    May 24, 2021 at 10:50 am

    I don’t know why, but little yellow birds in your photos make me happy, and I always catch myself smiling back at them.

    Also, the picture of the snow on the branches is so wonderful.

  12. 12.

    HinTN

    May 24, 2021 at 10:58 am

    @Albatrossity: What’s going on with the downward trimmed wing of the Upland Sandpiper? Was there a real crosswind or was it about to turn?

    As always, great pix and I learn something interesting.

  13. 13.

    J R in WV

    May 24, 2021 at 11:11 am

    Great series of nature shots, hard to tell which prefer, the birbs or the redbuds, which were also pretty long-lived here as well. No snow here, thankfully. I am pretty well done with winter by April anyway.

    My first trip into the Rockies for rock collecting, we saw snow in June. Didn’t amount to so much we couldn’t get around in it, but still…

    Thanks again for sharing these pictures, so sweet to see.

  14. 14.

    Albatrossity

    May 24, 2021 at 11:48 am

    @HinTN: The bird was in a glide, and they often glide with downturned wings, sorta like Spotted Sandpipers.

  15. 15.

    JanieM

    May 24, 2021 at 1:06 pm

    @WaterGirl: Me to on the yellow birds. In this set, especially that Prothonotary Warbler.

    I also love the picture of the redbuds, and can relate to appreciating when spring is slowed down by cool weather. I love it when we get to a certain point — daffs, forsythia, not-quite-leaves on the trees, and then get a cool rainy spell that pauses the tape. It all went by fast this year. And early.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 24, 2021 at 1:34 pm

    @Albatrossity: Evolution comes up with some strange results.

  17. 17.

    JustRuss

    May 24, 2021 at 2:13 pm

    Another fan of the gull here.

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