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| Kansas' Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve |
When I planned my trip to the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB), I planned to leave May 4 and drive straight to my sister’s house in Peoria, Illinois, with a little exploring along the way. After I planned my trip, Scott decided on a trip of his own to Dallas, Memphis and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, after which he met up with his friend, Will, in Cincinnati and traveled on to Chicago and St. Louis. He left before me and I got all my chores and packing done early, so I left early and drove a half day to Oakley, Kansas.
This was my first planning error, although since I changed plans so late, it might have just been the way it was. Oakley is one of the best places in the US to visit a Lesser Prairie Chicken lek and that is something I have not yet done.
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| Lesser Prairie Chicken; Photo: Alex Eberts, eBird |
It was near the end of lekking season (where the male chickens do elaborate mating dances and fight over females and territory), but there were still a few tours. Of course, they were all booked. So, I thought maybe I’d luck out and stumble upon a Lesser Prairie Chicken, but I didn’t. Still, I realized how close Oakley is, so maybe next year! By the way, even though I stayed in the Annie Oakley Motel, the town has no ties to Annie Oakley.
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| Annie and her namesake motel; Left: National Geographic; Right: Booking.com |
While in Kansas, I did make a few stops; nothing spectacular, but new experiences.
Monument Rocks
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| A surprise in Kansas |
Monument Rocks, which are also called the Chalk Pyramids, are a series of large chalk formations just south of Oakley. Rich in fossils, the formations were the first landmark in Kansas chosen by the Department of the Interior as a National Natural Landmark.
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| Three distant views |
They reach a height of up to 70 feet tall and include formations such as buttes and arches.
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| Reaching to the sky |
The carbonate deposits were laid down during the Cretaceous Period in what was then the Western Interior Seaway, which split the continent of North America into two landmasses. They are estimated to have been formed 80 million years ago.
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| Monumental |
Now one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas (I guess they couldn’t summon up 10), Monument Rocks sit in the middle of a cattle ranch on private property. The owners have graciously allowed public access, and it appears that visitors haven’t violated that trust. I saw no graffiti, trash or much beyond some tire tracks on the gravel road.
The day I went was gorgeous, so the white spires popped beautifully against the blue, blue Kansas sky.
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| I could not have asked for a prettier day |
I spent most of my time photographing the Cliff Swallows that nest on the spires. These fast, fast birds are tough to capture.
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| But, you can get shots as they slow down to land on their nests |
Cliff Swallows are extremely social songbirds that can be found in large colonies sometimes reaching over 2,000 nests. They are frequently seen flying overhead in large flocks during migration, gracefully foraging over fields for flying insects or perching tightly together on a wire preening under the sun.
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| Flying by the cliffs |
With an average length of 5.1 inches, they have short legs and small bills with relatively long pointed wings. They are differentiated easily from other similarly colored Swallows, such as Barn and Cave, by the cream-colored "headlight" on their foreheads and by their square, rather than forked, tails.
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| Telltale "headlight" |
Cliff Swallows are day-hunters, foraging high over fields and returning to their nesting sites at dusk, often flying in a tightly coordinated flock with such close synchronization that they appear as one large organism. These large group formations are called creches. They use special vocalizations to advise other colony members of locations where food is available.
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| The ones I saw were chattering away |
They build their gourd-shaped mud nests tightly together, on top of one another, under bridges or on mountain cliffs.
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| Nests |
Cliff Swallows from the same colony socially collect mud for nest building, converging at small areas together and then carrying globs of mud in their bills back to their nests.
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| Collecting mud |
Nesting sites can be vulnerable to predation by other cavity-nesting bird species, such as the House Sparrow, which search a number of Swallow nests for the perfect place to make their own nest, destroying numerous eggs in the process. Once the House Sparrows pick their nest, they will bring in grass and other materials making it impossible for the Cliff Swallows to re-establish their place.
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| Two finished and one under construction |
Nests at the periphery of colonies are vulnerable to snake predation. Central nests are more coveted, have larger clutches and are preferred for reuse in subsequent years
As I was leaving I saw what I thought was trash in the middle of the gravel access road. It was actually a Canada Goose gosling. It might have had an injured leg, but I couldn’t really see. It was odd because I saw no water nearby and no adult geese nearby. Just a lone gosling in the middle of the road.
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| Little lost baby |
I moved it off the road under some bushes for shade and hoped mom and dad would show up. I don’t have much hope it survived, though.
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| Then, on the way out I saw a few Burrowing Owls |
It was a pretty stop.
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| A true Kansas Wonder! |
Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park
Next, I traveled a short distance farther down the highway to Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park.
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It reminded me very much of Colorado’s Paint Mines, but without the vibrant colors |
A state park in Logan County, Little Jerusalem Badlands is owned by The Nature Conservancy and features 220 acres of Smoky Hill Chalk badlands with many narrow white rock canyons that are said to look like the walls and narrow winding streets of ancient Jerusalem.
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| Maybe |
It was a quick stop. I just walked out to an overlook and took a few shots.
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| Flowers and a Steel Blue Cricket Hunter on the path |
It had gotten hot and was too windy and dusty for me to want to take a longer hike.
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| A good enough look |
Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area
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| Vast marsh |
The next morning, I started off with a trip to Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, which I had heard about before as a Saw-Whet Owl banding spot in the fall. It took me a bit longer to get there than I had planned because I kept stopping to try to photograph the many Ring-necked Pheasants I saw along the way. I failed every time!
Cheyenne Bottoms’ 41,000 acres of marshes are the largest wetland in the Great Plains (and also one of the other Eight Wonders of Kansas!). It occupies a natural land sink and looks like a giant dot on the map.
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Left: Google Maps; Right satellite image from Earth Resources and Science (EROS) Center |
The Bottoms is a critical stopping point on the Central Flyway for millions of birds that migrate through the region annually. But, when I was there it wasn’t exactly hopping with birds.
I did see ...
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| Lots of Yellow-headed Blackbirds … |
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| Red-winged Blackbirds ... |
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| Brown-headed Cowbirds, female and male ... |
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| Long-billed Dowitchers ... |
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| Wilson’s Phalaropes, male … |
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| ... and female ... |
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| A group of Snow Geese that apparently hadn’t gotten the memo to head north … |
There was also a smattering of some of the other usual suspects …
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| American Coots ... |
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| Redheads and a Northern Shoveler ... |
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| A few Blue-winged Teals ... |
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| Some Ruddy Ducks and a Gadwall ... |
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| Semipalmated Sandpipers (semipalmated means slightly webbed feet) and a Black-necked Stilt ... |
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| Mourning Doves and Eastern Kingbirds |
According to legend, a battle in 1825 between the Cheyenne and the Kiowa (or Pawnee) turned one of the streams blood red, which gave the name Blood Creek to the steam that now flows into the lowlands. In 1900, a project known as the Koen Ditch attempted to divert Arkansas River water 12 miles to the Bottoms so that it could be used for irrigation. The ditch washed out in a flood. During the 1920s, various plans were put forth to drain the Bottoms and convert it to farmland. However, residents downstream in Hutchinson, Kansas, protested that doing so would create flooding problems for them.
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| Flooding in 2007; Photo: ResearchGate |
In 1925, the Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission was created to develop and care for the Bottoms. In 1927, more than a foot of rain upstream turned it overnight into "Lake Cheyenne" and caused flooding downstream (as predicted). Kansas politicians made an unsuccessful plea to get federal money to convert it into a National Wildlife Refuge.
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| Yellow-headed Blackbirds are everywhere |
In 1952, after the construction of dikes, roads and hunting blinds, part of the area was opened to public hunting. In 1957, a new canal from the Arkansas River was built. However, relatively little water from the Arkansas was pumped into the wetland because of drought and claims by other entities on the water supply. In the 1990s, an extensive renovation subdivided the marshes. The renovations allowed the marshes to be more self-sustaining, although an adequate water supply and management of water levels continue to be critical problems. It was pretty low when I was there.
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| Another Yellow-headed Blackbird in a big, big marsh |
The formation of the wetland in a natural basin in a semi-arid area is not entirely understood. It is surrounded on the north, east and west by bluffs as high as 100 feet. One of the most popular theories is that Cheyenne Bottoms was created as a sinkhole when incoming freshwater dissolved underground salt. However, this theory is challenged by critics who say that not enough salt is present in the base to cause this.
Other theories to explain the formation of Cheyenne Bottoms are that there was structural movement in its base, that it was part of a Pleistocene drainage system involving the Smoky Hill River and that it was created by sand dunes that scoured the flatlands and blocked drainage.
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| Historically, the Bottoms have been a lake, a mudflat or dry; Photos: HPPR |
With management to control water and provide a secure waystation for migrating waterfowl and shore birds, it now has five pools, crisscrossed by dikes, canals and pathways that cover most of the acreage of the wildlife management area. The pools average less than one foot deep. Pools one and five are closed to all human activities. Waterfowl hunting, primarily for Geese, is permitted along the southern border of the state wildlife management area.
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| A Clay-colored Billbug |
As many as 600,000 shorebirds from 39 species pass through Cheyenne Bottoms during spring migration and up to 200,000 come by in the fall.
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| Wilson's Phalarope |
About 45 percent of all shorebirds in North America utilize the area. Cheyenne Bottoms is critical habitat for many endangered species, including the whooping crane. But, like I said, not while I was there (I was too late).
At least 340 species of birds have been observed at Cheyenne Bottoms.
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| Long-billed Dowitchers |
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Next on my agenda was the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, north of Strong City, Kansas.
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| The hills had not greened out yet |
I knew that Caty had been there a few years ago, so I wanted to take a look. The Preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem that covered the Great Plains. Of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered North America, less than 5 percent remains, primarily in this part of Kansas. Since 2009, the Preserve has been home to the Tallgrass Prairie Bison herd, a very genetically pure group of the animals that once roamed this area.
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| Unfortunately, I never saw the herd, which comprises about 100; Photo: KC Hiker |
There are over 40 miles of maintained hiking trails, including some that traverse the bison enclosure (yikes!).
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| There are both forest and grassland trails |
During the summer, Tallgrass Prairie has traditionally offered a narrated bus tour, which Caty took when she was there. The ranger told me that, with all of Trump’s budget cuts, they weren’t sure if they would have it this summer. For sure, it wasn’t offered the day I was there.
The Preserve sits on property that was formerly the Spring Hill Ranch, which was established in 1878 and was one of the early adopters of enclosed ranching, in which cattle movement is limited by stone walls, fences and/or barbed wire.
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| Fences behind the barn |
This change swept across the Plains in the 1880s primarily as a response to overgrazing in open range operations. Over the years, the ranch grew to 7,000 acres.
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| The Spring Hill barn |
Rancher Stephen F. Jones built a Second-Empire-style ranch house in 1881.
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| The cost was estimated at $25,000 for the house |
He also built the Lower Fox Creek School on land he donated.
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| A true one-room school that was used into the 1930s |
I visited both buildings.
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| The kitchen in the house |
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| The school |
Jones ran purebred cattle, hogs and sheep. He sold the ranch in 1888 to Barney Lantry, who kept the ranch until 1904, primarily raising thoroughbred cattle. The ranch was then divided up into smaller parcels and then reassembled in a series of purchases executed in 1935 by George Davis, a grain dealer from Kansas City. Following Davis's death in 1955, the property was eventually put into a trust and operated as the Z-Bar Ranch.
Historic interest in the property began in the 1960s, when local groups organized the restoration of the Lower Fox Creek School.
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| The Fox Creek School (a long walk to school, especially in the snow) |
The ranch complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, one of the first listings in the state.
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| Rooms restored with period furniture |
The National Audubon Society acquired an option to purchase the property in 1988, but this expired in 1990. It aroused wider interest in the property, resulting in its eventual acquisition by the National Park Trust. The entire ranch property was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1997, primarily for its association with Jones and the end of the open range ranching era.
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| Tallgrass Prairie is a National Historic Landmark District |
Legislation introduced in 1991 called for the creation of the Preserve, but local interests objected to the condition that the National Park Service would own it all. A group of stakeholders created a proposal for a public/private partnership, managed by the National Park Service, but with privately owned land. The National Preserve was created in 1996. National Park Service ownership was limited to no more than 180 acres with the remainder owned by the National Park Trust; both manage the Park cooperatively.
In 2002, the National Park Trust donated approximately 32 acres to the National Park Service, including the historic ranch house, limestone barn and outbuildings and the school. The National Park Trust worked with the National Park Service to plan and develop the park from 1996 to 2005, when the National Park Trust sold the approximate 10,862 acres to The Nature Conservancy. Additionally, Texas billionaire Ed Bass owns grazing rights to nearly 10,000 acres until 2035.
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| NPS added sidewalks and ramps to make it accessible |
Typically, a third of the prairie grasslands is burned each year. The fire and grazing animals are used to prevent trees from taking over the prairie.
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| A few trees, but mainly grass |
Because I needed to make it to the other side of Kansas City by evening, I didn’t have a lot of time to explore, so I just stayed on the edges of the prairie. I toured the buildings and took a short walk into the prairie behind the schoolhouse. I spent some time photographing a couple of cooperative Dickcissels.
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| A female and a male Dickcissel |
Caty had told me that the prairie smelled marvelously of bergamot. Unfortunately, it was too early; the grass was still brown with little new spring growth.
Oh, and guess what? Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas!
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| Something to sing about! |
Trip dates: May 3-21, 2025
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