Arkalon Morning Fall Birding (12 October 2013)
* *  Mike Umscheid PHOTOGRAPHY & STORM CHASE BLOG   * *


About This Shoot
Date: 12 October 2013
Location: Arkalon Park near Liberal, Kansas
Shoot Type: Wildlife
Rating:
Synopsis:
I went out to Arkalon Park for the first time with Jeff Calhoun. We spent several hours birding the park. There were a few highlights, including a number of Wood Ducks and an encounter with a few extremely tame Wild Turkey at the campground. Species photographed included Belted Kingfisher (√), Northern Flicker, Pied-billed Grebe, Greater Yellowlegs, Clay-colored Sparrow, Bald Eagle, Eastern Bluebird (√), Wild Turkey (√), Townsend's Solitaire, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Bewick's Wren (√),

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12 October 2013

Arkalon Morning Fall Birding


Sat, 26 Oct 2013 18:41:49 -0500
Wild Turkey feeding on an apple at Arkalon Park near Liberal, KS. 12 October 2013
On our morning birding trip, Jeff Calhoun and I came across several Wild Turkey at the campground at Arkalon Park. Not bashful whatsoever, these turkey were more curious of us and whether we had any food than anything else. Jeff found an apple just lying around and we tried coaxing them to feed. Sure enough one of them did approach Jeff, and the following is a sequence of images I shot of a Wild Turkey feeding on an apple -- by hand! Bizarre to say the least.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)
(click on thumbnails for pop-up of larger images)

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 11:44:32 -0500
Morning birding at Arkalon Park northeast of Liberal, KS. 12 October 2013
I birded Arkalon Park with Jeff Calhoun on the 12th. Photography opportunities were limited, but I did manage to get a few pretty good images... including Eastern Bluebird, Belted Kingfisher, and a Bewick's Wren. Below is a write-up from Jeff:

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Mike Umscheid and I went down to Arkalon Park near Liberal today to enjoy it on the last weekend it is open to the public. We listed 52 species there including Osprey, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, the 2 resident Bald Eagles, Prairie Falcon, Bewick's Wren, Townsend's Solitaire, and a flyover Siskin. A few other migrants were around but not as many sparrows as expected. An unusual moment was feeding the Wild Turkeys an apple core by hand – obviously they’ve done that before. The most notable thing there was the fact that we voice recorded a singing Marsh Wren that I think matches, by song, the western sub-species of Marsh Wren. I’m not sure how many records of this subspecies there are in KS, but it was a first for me.

We went on over to Meade Lake but it was pretty quiet. A few Scissor-tails still hanging around was a surprise and it was nice to hear the Sandhill Cranes flying over. There were a lot of ducks on the playa on Yucca Rd in Ford Co, mostly Pintail. At the DC Lagoons were 9 LB Dowitchers and 20ish American Pipits. Full lists at links below.

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(1) Belted Kingfisher, male, in-flight

(2) Same male Belted Kingfisher, perched high

(3) A pair of Eastern Bluebirds perched high

(4) Bewick's Wren, vocalizing.
(click on thumbnails for pop-up of larger images)