I hate birding. Or maybe I should say I hate chasing lifers.
Last Friday a rare Ross's Gull was found on a flooded playa south of Dodge City, Kansas. Ross's Gull is a really cool little gull that breeds on the coasts of the Arctic Ocean. They wander a bit during the winter, sometimes south to the northern states in the USA. I have always wanted to see one but never thought I would get the chance. Problem is this bird, though farther south than usual, was still 900 miles away. After getting the news, a few Texas birders I know jumped at the chance and raced up there and saw it. They were all closer than me. Their photos showed a distant, pale grayish gull feeding on a dead Snow Goose in frozen slush. Uhmm... Is that really worth the long painful drive? I decided no.
(In the southwestern United States, low flat areas that collect rain water are know as playas. "Playa" is a Spanish word for beach. The rain water collects minerals as it flows to the nearest low area. After the water dries it leaves behind sand and salt deposits. Hence the area looks like a beach and was called a "playa" by the early Spanish settlers. Having lived in the Southwest for many years I was quite familiar with the term but was a bit surprised to see it used in Kansas. However the Spanish explorer Coronado passed through the area in his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola, so it makes sense these low flat sandy areas are called playas in Kansas.)
Although I was not consciously thinking about it, the Ross's Gull was gnawing at the back of my mind. I resisted a couple of days but then foolishly checked eBird and found that lots of people were still seeing the bird and getting great flight photos in brilliant sunshine. Damn! They saw it yesterday! I could not resist any longer. I loaded up the jeep and took off the next morning. I made it 725 miles to Shamrock where I spent the night. I got up early and drove through freezing mist, which slowed me down, and arrived at the playa at 10:30am. The weather had cleared and it was a bright sunny but cold morning. So where are the birders?
Pheasant hunters with their dogs were systematically walking the tall grass east of the playa hoping to flush their colorful prey. I manged to see one they missed.
But there was no one on the road that flanked the south side of the large playa. I drove slowly hoping to see the small pale gull, either in flight or on the ice. A flock of sparrows flushed ahead of me. I hoped they were Tree Sparrows which I have not seen in years. They were. I should have spent more time with them but I was looking for a Ross's Gull.
So I made a pass of the nearly mile long south shore and no Ross's Gull. I turned around at the old farm house on the west end and distantly saw a large sparrow. Harris's Sparrow? Yes! I've not seen one since the South Padre Island bird.
So I drove back east along the south shore and saw a very pale Merlin. I think this is the Prairie Merlin subspecies. I was hoping it had not knocked off the gull as it perched there with a white feather in its mouth.
I continued east and only saw thousands of Northern Pintails with a few Mallards scattered along the opposite distant shore. Northern Harriers would flush the pintails.
Well I reached the east end, turned around and did another pass westward. Nothing. So I went east again and reached the east end with the same result. I wasn't ready to give up yet. So I started another drive westward along the south shore. Where are the birders? At this point a beat up old Suburban pulled up next to me and I lowered the window. The scruffy gentleman inside, who reminded me of Darryl and his other brother Darryl, asked "Are you looking for the seagull?" I told him I was. And he said "It's dead. It ate a dead goose." He told me the Ross's Gull had been collected by Kansas Fish and Game and implied that it had died of bird flu.
At this point I didn't know what to do. I tend to not trust the locals, but it made sense. No birders were present and I was not finding a bird that two days ago was flying all over the playa. So I headed for home. I later read a post about the Ross's Gull on Facebook that said it had indeed been collected by the Kansas Department of Fish and Game and would be autopsied. Bird flu was considered a possiblility.
Well that was something. I have chased and missed birds but I've never travelled that far for a single rarity. At least knowing the bird had died gave me some kind of closure I guess. So did I learn anything from all this? Probably not.
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