Nature making a slow recovery from drought

By Rod Haxton, editor

On a bitter, winter day at Lake Scott State Park the only thing more striking than the cold was the silence.

At times, the only sounds that could be heard were small ice pellets hitting the brush as they fell from overhead branches.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever been out here when it’s been this quiet,” remarked Tom Shane, an avid bird watcher from Garden City.

Shane, along with his wife Sara (Norman), formerly of Scott City, and a handful of other volunteers were conducting their annual winter bird survey of Lake Scott and the surrounding area on behalf of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. They have been conducting surveys at Lake Scott since 1984.

While they were more difficult to find this year, those conducting the survey discovered 50 species in an area that begins on the south edge of Scott City and extends 15 miles to the north. In some years they have found more than 70 species.

Shane attributes the decline to lingering effects of the drought that began about six years ago and lingered over Western Kansas until two years ago.

“The numbers still haven’t recovered,” Shane says. “After all the rain we had this past summer I thought bird species might make a comeback, but they dropped instead. This was true throughout Western Kansas.

“It’s always good to get out and do the survey and see the conditions. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have realized the results of the drought were extending this long.”

The Shanes would walk the shoreline along Beaver Creek and make their way through heavy brush, stopping on occasion to turn on their tape recorder with various bird calls.

Shane acknowledged conditions were particularly difficult on the two weekends in which the survey was being held. Sub-zero temperatures, along with an exceptional amount of frost from a freezing fog, had the birds “hanging tight.” With about 1/4 inch of frost clinging to pine needles, it was difficult to spot birds sheltering in the trees. By afternoon, conditions had improved.

Most Species Down

There were a few discoveries that had the bird watchers excited.

A Carolina Wren, normally found in eastern Kansas, was found at Lake Scott.

“I think there’s been only one other time that we’ve found the Carolina Wren in Western Kansas,” Shane says.

He was also amazed at the number of turkeys (281 were counted) in a field on the south edge of the state park.

“They’ve been part of the county for at least 10 years, but this is the biggest flock we’ve ever seen,” he observed. “I don’t know if we’ve seen a flock this large at Christmas time anywhere in the state.”

“It’s a pretty amazing comeback when you consider that turkeys and deer were nearly depleted in Kansas during the 1930s,” he points out. “During that time, if one wandered nearby they usually ended up on the dinner table.”

For the most part, however, bird populations are suffering. The once-common Cedar Waxwings, robins and Townsend’s Solitaires (thrush) are down. They didn’t find any short-eared or long-eared owls. This, says Shane, reflects a low supply of rodents to feed on.

Only one screech owl was discovered this year, compared with up to 8-10 in most years.

The Lapland Longspur sparrow, which are very unpopular because of the way they clean out fields, have seen their numbers drop to the 4,000 to 5,000 range in recent years. During one year, Shane says they estimated seeing 70,000. During some years they have seen more than 100 white-crowned sparrows. This year they found less than 10.

Neither did those on the survey discover black cap chickadees which were once common in the park. At their peak, they once counted about 70.

“We haven’t seen any for several years,” he notes. “We don’t know whether to attribute it to West Nile Virus or whether another factor is to blame.”

The decline in chickadee numbers began about three years before the emergence of WNV.

While disappointed in many of the bird numbers, Shane doesn’t see it as an irreversible trend.

“The bird numbers will make a comeback,” he said optimistically. “They always do.”