If you didn’t already consider Kansas a birder’s paradise, a new book will clear up that misconception.
“The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hotspots” by Pete Janzen and Bob Gress is a comprehensive guide to the state’s feathered flocks — and a how-to for getting to know them. It’s just been published by the University of Kansas Press in a beautiful trade paperback format complete with 576 color photographs.
Gress is the former director of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita and a skilled photographer. Janzen is active in the Wichita Audubon Society and, like Gress, has written extensively on birds.
The new book is actually the second edition of a volume they first published in 2008. As well-known wildlife author Kenn Kaufman writes in this edition’s foreword, “Every bird book needs to be updated occasionally, simply because the status of species changes over time.” The updates in this edition go much further, Kaufman noted: “This edition covers more bird species, brings all the information up-to-date, includes far more photos, and describes almost four times as many hotspots as the previous version.”
Janzen and Gress report that an “amazing” 482 species of birds have been seen within Kansas’ borders, ranking it among the top 15 states in numbers of birds observed at least once.
“For an agricultural state in the Great Plains, this is an impressive ranking in comparison to other high-ranking states, all of which benefit from some combination of ocean coasts, mountain ranges, southwestern desserts, and mild southern climates,” they write.
The reason for that “exceptional diversity,” they say, “is due in large part to the state’s location in the center of the continent.” As a result, birds from both coasts, Canada and the desert Southwest make their way here.
The book profiles 326 species most commonly found in the state. It’s written for beginning and intermediate birders and starts with a section on binoculars, bird identification techniques and other important basics. It includes a calendar of bird activity that explains when certain birds are likely to be found here.
The bulk of the book sorts the birds into species, from waterfowl and other swimming birds to wading birds and shorebirds, doves, owls, aerialists, insect catchers, songbirds, warblers, thrushes and more. But almost as much space is given to a look at 100 birding hotspots around the state, from well-known locations such as the Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to urban oases such as Chisholm Creek Park and Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita. Over 200 species of birds have been found in the latter, the book notes, with its dogwood thickets particularly attracting migratory warblers and songbirds in the fall.
“Kansas Birds” can be ordered on the University of Kansas Press webiste for $34.99 and should be available in local bookstores this month. Pete Janzen and Bob Gress will sign books at Faith and Life Bookstore in Newton on Aug. 9 and present a program for the Bethel College Life Enrichment program on Sept. 24.
