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.
Albatrossity
On the Road Again!
We spent the third week of May this year at the Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary, a former ranch now operated by Audubon of Kansas, dedicated to wildlife conservation, and about a 6-hour drive from home base in Manhattan KS. We had been there a couple of times previously, in July and again in October (previously chronicled here) during the pre-vaccine period of the pandemic in 2020. This was a chance to see the Nebraska Sandhills in springtime, as well as an opportunity for E to use her chainsaw and help clear invasive eastern red cedars from the prairies. This installment and the next one will showcase some pictures from that week.
First let’s take a look at the landscape and the meteorology. On our previous July trip we were treated to a stunning lightning show from a supercell (aka mothership) cloud. This time was not as spectacular cloud-wise, but the lightning storm off to our southeast continued into the wee hours of the morning. A faint rainbow here, but mostly just clouds, sky, and a sea of grass.
One of the iconic denizens of these grassy seas is the Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), which sings its insect-mimicking song from fenceposts all summer long. I really liked how this rear view of the tail and wing pattern is reflected in the rings of that ancient fencepost.
Most of the birds had recently returned to this part of Northern Nebraska, and all of them were busy singing, displaying, and nesting. This Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) was on eggs just a short distance from a dirt road, and did not want to move from there on a hot afternoon.
This part of the Nebraska Sandhills, like most of the northern Great Plains, hosts an abundance of Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) in the summer. There was one of these handsome male blackbirds on just about every second fencepost adjacent to some of the lusher prairies.
Another spectacular icterid, and one that is not found in my part of Flyover Country, is the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). The translation of that tongue-twisting scientific name is “rice-eating longclaw”). No rice in this image, but the long claw is pretty obvious! Their unique song is one of the best bird sounds in North America, in my opinion.
One of my goals on this trip was to capture some images of male Bobolinks in flight. They are unique among North American birds in having a dark belly and lighter tones on the back and neck, and I wanted to see how that looks in a flight shot. Many animals (not just birds) have the opposite pattern (light belly and dark back), aka countershading. Here’s an interesting paper that discusses the evolutionary aspects of countershading and reverse countershading.
An excellent example of standard countershading is this Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), another abundant resident of this part of Flyover Country. Brilliant white ventrally and deep blue-black dorsally, this guy was busily extracting some sort of beetle larvae from the fencepost.
The prairies here are interspersed with cottonwood groves, and cottonwood trees are common nest sites for the two species in this shot. One, the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), nests in cavities that are often old nest sites excavated by Red-headed Woodpeckers, and the other, the Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) builds a hanging pouch-like nest suspended from a fork in the cottonwood twigs. It is not unusual to see these two species in the same area, but it is a bit unusual to see them perched together, so I was happy to get this shot.
There are also warblers in this part of Flyover Country, especially in the riparian stretches along the Niobrara River. One of the flashier warblers in North America, the American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) can be heard and seen all along the river in appropriate habitat.
And the final bird for today is the female American Redstart, a much subdued version of the male above. I have a soft spot in my heart for this delicate and elegant bird, since a female American Redstart was the first warbler that I ever banded, way back in the 1990’s.
JPL
The Oriole is stunning.
eclare
Beautiful photos! I love seeing new places and animals.
Rob
I am the Grasshopper Sparrow this morning. Looking over my shoulder at you while I eat breakfast, wishing to be left alone.
J R in WV
Great photos as usual! Thanks for sharing your story with us! Love the red wing black birb, and the red-headed woodpecker!
The other day I got a good opportunity to photograph Mr Barred Owl just outside a living room window, will be doing a submission soon from these wooded hillsides.
OzarkHillbilly
That first pic makes me homesick for those empty horizons.
Jerry
Those storm clouds! They’re going to crush us! Amazing photo
KSinMA
Beautiful.
Helena Montana
Gorgeous birds, thanks for sharing them.
Ellen
Phenomenal photos.
Wag
I love the link to the Bobolink song.
zhena gogolia
@Wag: Me too, I never heard that.
I heard nightingales once in Russia. Amazing.
I still can’t walk out on the road, so I’ve missed a lot of red-winged blackbirds. I love them.
MelissaM
Love that redstart taking off! Wings look more formidable from over or under, but that side shot shows how delicate they are!
SteveinPHX
Thank you! Red Headed Woodpecker photo is wonderful.
Betty
He female American Redstart is a sweet contrast to the other strongly colored birds.
Chat Noir
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” had a feature on the July episode about a bird spotting contest in New Jersey. Really interesting!
Beautiful pictures as always!
jnfr
Thank you for this. I love Nebraska so much. I got to spend a lot of time there, mostly around the Platte River, when we were doing research along the River for the EPA. And I spent time there once or twice when the Sandhill Cranes were in migration. That’s not to be missed.
I got up to the Sandhills too, and though it is a quiet landscape, not spectacular like Utah, it’s so beautiful in its own way.
Albatrossity
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, that sort of horizon is an acquired taste, but I share it.
I’m currently using that image as the wallpaper on my laptop computer. I’d be happy to send you that image file if you want to use it too!
Yutsano
I have to say, birds do make a great Monday morning.
Albatrossity
@jnfr: Yeah, it is a very rich place for landscapes and wildlife, and also very much underappreciated by most of the country. And I agree; the Sandhill Crane migration scene along the Platte in March is indescribable. You really have to see it to believe it. The last great migration spectacle in the lower 48.
susanna
The beauty of your bird photos beauties up the morning. I adore today’s presentation.
Steve from Mendocino
And what a gorgeous opening photo!!!!
Albatrossity
@Steve from Mendocino: Thanks!
Don’t tell anybody, but that photo was actually taken with a phone…
JustRuss
Lovely. That landscape shot is stunning, which ain’t easy when you’re in Nebraska.
the pollyanna from hell
I bicycled north to Valentine and west to Caspar when I was fifteen. Learned to imitate meadowlark call in Columbus before that. Thank you, thank you for this series.
stinger
Every single one of these photos is a work of art, and the commentary is so informative!
Anyone else see two faces in the clouds in the top photo? In the center it’s just a nose and possibly mustachioed lips; the upper right it’s Cyrano!
Wag
@Albatrossity: iPhone cameras are amazing. The last several climbing OTR’s that I’ve done are nothing but iPhone photos.
But a phone wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of capturing the beauty in flight that you so regularly share with us.
mvr
These are some great images. The top photo of the landscape is really striking. (Just traversed Nebraska on I-80 today but did not see anything quite this nice along the way, though there was an impressive storm cloud ahead of us at one point.) And I love the Oriole/Swallow pairing as well.
How did Kansas Audubon wind up running something on the Niobrara?
WaterGirl
I think this is one of your best Monday collections yet, Albatrossity, and that’s saying a lot!
Albatrossity
@Wag: Not an iPhone (I have an aversion to everything Apple); it was an Android. But yeah, phone cameras, regardless of platform, are incredible and just keep getting better!
@mvr: You definitely have to get off the interstate (in both Kansas and Nebraska) to find scenery worth stopping for. Which is both good and bad…
Re the property in Nebraska, my understanding is that the former director of Audubon of Kansas was instrumental in protecting the Niobrara River, and in the process met a lot of conservation-minded folks up there. The Huttons were among them, and ended up willing that property to AoK when they passed away. It is a spectacular place, for sure.
mvr
@Albatrossity: Thanks for the info about how Kansas Audubon wound up running property on the Niobrara.
And yes, you have to get off the interstate to see a lot of what is worth seeing in this state. I especially like the Northwest part of the panhandle though the rest of the state has its places as well.