Distributional Records of Birds in Eastern Kansas

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report certain distributional records of interest concerning birds in eastern Kansas and to clarify the status, as reported in the literature, of some breeding birds of this area. Some of the facts presented here are well known to students of birds in Kansas-even so, formal correction of existing inaccuracies in the literature seems desirable. All specimens mentioned below are now in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. Colymbus caspicus californicus. Eared Grebe. W. S. Long, in his Check-List of Kansas Birds (1940, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 43:433456) said of this species, formerly common; now a rare migrant. none in recent years. Actually, this grebe is a regular migrant, both spring and fall, in small numbers. I have collected two specimens: female (HBT 844), ovary 13 X 7 mm., November 11, 1950, 1 mile west and 5 miles south of Concordia, Cloud County; male (KU 30511, skeleton) in nuptial plumage, April 14, 1952, 3 miles north and 1 mile east of Sharon, Barber County. Anas cyanoptera septentrionalis. Cinnamon Teal. Although local bird students report occasional males in migration in central and eastern Kansas, no specimens from this area have been reported in print. I have taken two: male (KU 30308) with little fat, testes 10 mm. long, March 29, 1951, Cheyenne Bottoms, 4 miles north and 5 miles east of Great Bend, Barton County; male (KU 31297), weight 380 grams, some fat, testes 12 and 15 mm. long, April 26, 1953, 1 mile north of Lawrence, Douglas County. Ictinia misisippiensis. Mississippi Kite. Long (op. cit.:439) reported this species common only in Barber and Comanche counties. Perhaps this was true in 1940; today, however, the species breeds in much of south-central Kansas. I have seen kites in summer in the following counties: Meade, Clark, Comanche, Barber, Harper, Pratt, Kingman, Stafford, and Harvey. In most of these counties the species is at least locally common. Careful search would probably extend further its known breeding range in Kansas. Buteo swainsoni. Swainson's Hawk. Richard Graber (1952, Kansas Ornith. Soc. Bull., 3 (3):24) reported this essentially western species breeding near Topeka in 1952. A few individuals are present in the