These 24 bird species are becoming more common in Kansas
Eugene Young moved in 1983 with big dreams of majoring in chemistry and playing football for Southwestern College in Winfield.
Everything changed when he took a biology course and had his first field experience with birds.
“I loved it,” said Young, coauthor of Birds of Kansas. “It’s what changed my career and my future...I spent just countless hours in the field, and it just took off from there. I loved being out in the field.”
One bird Young remembered specifically was the Savannah Sparrow, which he described as being “rare as hen’s teeth” during Kansas winters. With noticeably small heads for their brown, white and black speckled chunky bodies, the ground-nesting birds have a particular fondness for grassy areas.
“If you saw them during the winter, you would have to document them and write up details about your observation, take pictures and submit those to the editor of The Kansas Ornithological Society or to the National Audubon Society to verify that it was a Savannah Sparrow,” Young said.
In the past decade, things changed. Savannah Sparrow are now abundant during Kansas winters.
“The numbers have just absolutely been incredible,” Young said.
The Savannah Sparrow is just one of 24 bird species that are becoming more common in the state during the past 25 years due to climate change, loss of habitat elsewhere and other environmental factors.
There may be more. But that’s a question researchers have struggled to answer due to lack of resources.
Young is now the chair of the Kansas Bird Records Committee for the Kansas Ornithological Society, a group of professional ornithologists and private citizens who gather and analyze state bird data, looking for trends. Ornithology is the professional study of birds.
The simple addition of these bird species to Kansas doesn’t add to an unequivocal win for the environment.
“While this might seem like a positive thing and it might seem the species is doing well, we need to understand the population from a broader perspective,” Young said. “What I am more worried about is the cumulative effect...of climate change in association with human alteration.”
Chief among the ornithologist’s concerns is what this means for the current Kansas species. Some of these new species are replacing native species and are causing problems for other animals.
The Black Vulture, once existed in 1800s Kansas and has been slowly returning since the 1980s, Young said. They wintered in Kansas again for the first time last year, but this hissing relative to the Turkey Vulture isn’t a welcome sight for everyone, especially farmers, as they are known to attack newborn calves.
“They’re now a year-round resident apparently down in southeast Kansas,” said Chuck Otte, the secretary of the Kansas Bird Records Committee. “And they’re moving north.”
Understanding why these new species have moved in is complicated. It’s likely a combination of factors, such as loss of habitat, changing landscapes and climate change. Without further data, researchers will likely be unable to understand why these bird species are here and the effects of their presence.
For example, researchers have been concerned about what effects changes in migration might have on food for the animals.
“A lot of times their migration historically was timed to coincide with the population explosion of food species, caterpillars, things like that,” Otte said. “All of a sudden, if that’s happening two weeks earlier and they’re late getting here, do they miss out on it? Do they have a reproductive failure because they missed the peak of the insect emergence?”
Good news
In some cases, there is good news.
Several bird species have been making a comeback after the outlawing of DDT; a pesticide outlawed in the 1970s by the Environmental Protection Agency after concerns for human health and environmental risks. In Kansas, that took the form of a resurgence in population for the Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Osprey and Egrets.
“When I first arrived in Lawrence, Cooper’s Hawk was a rare breed,” said Mark Robbins, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Kansas, coauthor of The Status and Distribution of Birds in Missouri and Kansas Ornithological Society member. “Now there are many pairs in the city limits. It seems like every stand of wood in Kansas has Cooper’s Hawks breeding in them, so that’s been a huge change.”
The Red-shouldered Hawk was assisted in its comeback by a changing climate and an expansion of its preferred habitat.
Climate change’s direct effect is most evident in birds that winter in Kansas.
“Because of our really mild winters, we’ve got a number of species that normally would have either not been in Kansas in the winter or were much rarer,” Robbins said. “Our reservoirs are not freezing up like they used to, so you have a lot of waterfowl that are hanging out throughout the entire winter.”
Weighing as much as a CD but six inches long, the brownish-gray Eastern Phoebe is a prime example.
“That’s a flycatcher that feeds on insects, and that’s a good indicator that things are warming up in southeastern Kansas,” Robbins said. “Eastern Phoebe’s are wintering here when they didn’t before.”
In addition to the 10 birds above, these are 14 birds that Kansans might be more likely to see at their bird feeders or nearby rivers, and why they might be there:
Bald Eagle -The national bird is one of the largest in North America. They’ve been nesting in Kansas, their population has been growing in the past few decades.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - This loud, long-legged 2-foot-tall duck has a bright pink bill and is usually found only as far north as Texas and Louisiana. Recently they’ve been moving north and love to live in nest boxes.
Carolina Chickadee - While it looks quite similar to its northern cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee, this bird is replacing the Black-cap’s presence in Kansas. The Carolina Chickadee has a four-syllable song that is quite high pitched, while their chubbier northern cousins prefer a two or three-note whistle.
Chipping Sparrow - Huge fans of birdseed and bird feeders, these small birds with gray bodies and black and brown striped wings used to be rare in Kansas during winter, but that has changed as the weather has become milder.
Fish Crow - You’re likely to see these ‘nest-robbers’ in pairs or a flock as they love to spend time with their species around fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, and attack the nests of other birds and turtles. They are all black and puff out their throats when calling to each other.
Glossy Ibis - With a scythe-like bill, these colony flocking birds favor marshlands in the southeast and along the east coast to forage for dinner. They’ve been seen in Kansas recently, and experts aren’t sure why they’ve moved inland so far.
Great Kiskadee - These robin-sized flycatchers have a black head, white eyebrow, yellow stomach and reddish-brown wings and tail. Primarily found in Mexico and Central and South America, previously the only place in the U.S. you could regularly find these birds was in south Texas, but they have been moving north.
Painted Bunting - Likely the most colorful bird you’ll ever see, these birds are red, orange, yellow, green and blue. They’ve been moving northward to breed as the climate in Kansas becomes warmer.
Pileated Woodpeckers - Also known as the “Woody the Woodpecker,” these are one of the largest forest birds in the U.S. They are likely expanding their range due to the lack of bison.
Piratic Flycatcher - With a short black bill, these small birds with a brown and olive-green body and white throat “pirate” nests from other birds. Like the Great Kiskadee, this bird is moving north.
Sandhill Crane - This graceful, red-headed dancer travels up and down the length of North America every year, but Kansans are lucky enough to see them in the southwest of the state every year as the prairie and wetlands there provide a key resting area.
Vermilion Flycatcher - The wide-chested males, with their orange-red body and head, give flashy insect gifts to the grayish-brown females in order to mate. They have been moving north alongside the Piratic Flycatcher.
White-winged Dove - Mostly brown, these doves have a white line at the folded edge of their wings and were primarily seen in the southeastern part of the U.S. and Mexico. Their population has grown significantly in Kansas and a small number winter in southwestern Kansas near Dodge City.
Wild Turkey - This robust bird is found all across central and eastern parts of the continent. While they can be found in almost every forest and hillside, conservation efforts have improved their populations considerably.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 6:01 AM.
