My mom and I made our first trip to the Salt Plains. On the way up in a construction zone on Hwy 81 (not sure where we were) we saw a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk (Picture 1).
The other highlight was seeing Ring-necked Pheasants at the Salt Plains on the road to the crystal digging area.
Not much going on at Sandpiper Trail, 1 sandpiper, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and some ducks that were too far to ID.
Didn't see any Sandhills or Whoopers even though hunters reported them. This list is for all 3 days.
1. Red-tailed Hawks
2. American Kestrels
3. Scissor-tail Flycatchers
4. Ring-billed Gulls
5. Snowy Egrets
6. American Avocets
7. American Crows
8. Bonaparte's Gulls
9. Red-bellied Woodpeckers
10. Northern Cardinals
11. Barn Swallows
12. Meadowlarks
13. Canada Geese
14. American White Pelicans
15. Dowitchers
16. Sandpipers
17. Greater Yellowlegs
18. Orange-crowned Warblers
19. Northern Flickers
20. Carolina Chickadees
21. Blue Jays
22. Eastern Bluebirds
23. Mourning Doves
24. Great Blue Herons
25. Great Egrets
26. Red-winged Blackbirds
27. Grackles
28. Northern Harriers
29. Brown-headed Cowbirds
30. Snow Geese
31. Greater White-fronted Geese
32. Northern Shovelers
33. Mallards
34. Wood Ducks
35. Killdeers
36. Blue-winged Teal
37. Gadwalls
38. Turkeys
39. Mockingbird
40. Ring-necked Pheasants (3 males, 5 females)
41. Double-crested Cormorants
42. Northern Pintails
43. Tufted Titmouse
44. Pie-billed Grebe
45. Green-winged Teal
46. American Widgeons
47. American Coots
48. Cattle Egrets
49. Belted Kingfisher
50. Eurasian Collard Doves
51. Great Horned Owls
52. Pigeons
53. European Starlings
54. House Sparrows
55. American Robins
56. Forrester's Terns
57. Bobwhite Quail
Also saw: deer, armadillos, coyotes, snakes and the best of all was a badger running around in a wheat field.
