Date: 10/14/25 8:23 pm From: Chuck Otte <cotte...> Subject: Milford Lake Birdwalk, Saturday, October 18th 8:00 a.m.
The monthly Milford Lake Bird Walk will be this Saturday, October 18th. Meet at the parking lot at the south end of the Milford Lake Dam at 8:00 a.m. October is traditionally our sparrow walk. In spite of unusually warm October weather we'll give it a try and see what we can find! We have been hearing/seeing Harris's and White-throated Sparrows as well as Dark-eyed Juncos the past few days so that's encouraging! Walks usually last 2 to 3 hours, birds and weather dependent. Walks usually involve moderate walking! Contact me if you have any questions! If you're a first timer and using GPS to find the meeting place, please use this address, 5203 North K-57 Junction City, NOT just Milford Lake.
Date: 10/11/25 5:10 pm From: Kenneth Kinman <kinman...> Subject: Hundreds of robins flocking through northeast Hays
Hi All,
It was a quiet day here in northeast Hays, with the only migrants being monarch butterflies. Then about 6:30 this evening large numbers of robins started coming through. Must have been at least 300 or more.
Some landing in trees and on power lines to rest briefly, and a few dozen even landed in the yard looking for food. But most just flew over, all heading toward the southeast. By 7:00 they were all gone, so the show only lasted about 25 minutes.
----Ken Kinman (Hays, Kansas)
Date: 10/9/25 6:15 pm From: Mark Land <kestrelland...> Subject: Laughing Gulls at Clinton Lake
Very strange. A few weeks back Chris and Bryan had two Laughing Gulls (an adult and an immature) at Clinton Lake that were seen several times. Last Saturday Kevin had a first cycle at Bloomington East Park. Monday I went looking for this bird and Kathy and I independently saw a Laughing Gull in a plumage between first and second cycle on the sailboat pier. (Kathy, that was my strange Franklin's Gull I wanted photos of). Today I went back to see if I could get some more photos. I found it immediately on the sailboat pier. It flew back behind the pier and hunted for fish. I was able to get some distant photos as it flew around. After looking at a few of them I realized this was an even different Laughing Gull then the one I had seen Monday. Everything was similar, yet different. The size and the tail were what I noticed immediately. But photos show the upperparts, underparts, gray on the neck and head streaking, and bill color are not the same. So that is at least four in the last several months and three different ones this week. The ones I saw are easy to spot even though they are similar to the thousands of Franklin's Gulls. And there are 10's of thousands of Franklin's to look at.The wings are very long and dark. The dark on the head goes around the back of the head instead of the helmeted look of a Franklin's. The back of the neck is gray. In flight look for white central tail feathers with a white rump. I have not seen any Franklin's with that particular tail pattern! One is bigger than the Franklin's but, one is similar in size.
Date: 9/29/25 7:33 am From: Chuck Otte <cotte...> Subject: KOS Fall Meeting and Check-lists
I want to thank Dr. Andrew George for organizing the KOS Fall Meeting at Pittsburg State University. We had a great time, heard some really neat presentations and meet a bunch of exciting students! Youthful enthusiasm always energizes me!!!
For those of you who were registered for the meeting - if you birded in Allen, Bourbon, Neosho, Crawford, Labette, or Cherokee counties any time on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, plese share your eBird lists with KSOrnSociety so we can wrap up the compilation. The weather, meaning lack of recent north winds, really seemed to reduce the birds seen/reported so we want to make sure we capture all the sightings from those counties for the weekend.
Looking ahead to 2026:
Spring Field Trip event will be held in the Cross Timbers area - dates and details to be announced as they become available.
Fall Annual Meeting will be held in Winfield, again, dates and details will be announced as they become available.
Looking beyond that - Spring Field Trips haven't been held in northeast Kansas for quite a few years. Birders in that corner of the state, start thinking about it!!
Good to see those that were in Pittsburg and again, thank you Andy!
A few things of note today for me in South West Kansas in Morton County on Sunday, 28 September.
The Elkhart Shelterbelt had a flock of birds this morning, a Philadelphia, a Red-eyed, an Eastern Warbling-Vireos, a Tennessee and a Nashville Warbler, and two Broad-winged Hawks. Later, with other Kansas birders, there was a female Black-headed Grosbeak. Luckily, I went to Point of Rocks, and my state bird Sprague's Pipit flew over for several birders, Rufous-crowned Sparrow was calling, other birders got Canyon Towhee there too. The other productive spot for me today, was Middle Spring Picnic Area, I saw and photographed the continuing Western Flycatcher, also saw a Philadelphia Vireo there as well.
Date: 9/25/25 1:24 pm From: Chuck Otte <cotte...> Subject: KOS Fall Meeting Program now available
The Program for the fall meeting, including abstracts of papers being presented is now online, linked from the Fall Meeting information page or directly at:
If you submitted an abstract to present a paper at the KOS Fall Meeting and did not receive confirmation back from me, please resend it to this address: <cotte...><mailto:<cotte...>. I know of at least one person whose email system would not send it to my twinvalley address. Sorry for any issues arising from this!
Chuck
Chuck Otte
County Extension Agent, Emeritus
K-State Research and Extension
<cotte...><mailto:<cotte...>
