New Bird Species in Kansas

New species confirmed in Kansas since Birds of Kansas was published (2011)
Based on actions taken by the Kansas Bird Records Committee
Listed in Chronological Order

Since birds of Kansas was published in May 2011, the following species have been added to the Kansas bird species checklist. Brief information on when and were they were seen follows the species name. For additional information on the Kansas Bird Records Committee please visit this page.

Mexican Violetear (2011) 8-12 June, 2011, at a backyard feeder between Manhattan and Keats, Riley County.

Crested Caracara (2011) 2 August, 2011, discovered in a pasture near Coleman Township about 12 miles Southwest of the town of Washington, Washington County, reported by Warren Buss.

Red-necked Stint (2012) 1-2 July 2012, one adult, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Little Salt Marsh, Stafford County, reported by Barry Jones.

Hooded Oriole (2014) 30 April 2014, private residence, Lawrence, Douglas County, reported by Kathy McDowell.

Purple Sandpiper (2015) 23 December 2015, Wilson Lake, Russell County, reported by Brent Galliart and Dave Klema,

Piratic Flycatcher (2015)  8 to 10 May 2015, Scott Lake State Park, Scott County, reported by Christopher Lituma also by Brandon Percival and Bryan White.

Pacific Wren (2015) 20 December 2014, Scott Lake State Park, Scott County, reported by Jeff Calhoun also seen by Henry Armknecht.

Little Stint (2017) 30 April 2017, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Stafford County, reported by Eugene Young, documented with extensive field notes. (Originally added as hypothetical. Hypothetical status was removed in 2018 when a report was submitted with photograph.)

Brown Booby (2017) 31 July 2017, near Ensign, Gray County, reported by an anonymous observer.

Bronzed Cowbird (2018) 9 July 2009, near Partridge, Reno County, reported by Miriam Isashige, also seen by Hiromi Iwashige. (This record was originally not accepted by the KBRC but when several Bronzed Cowbirds were seen and photographed in Seward County in June 2018 the record was reviewed and accepted thereby making this the first official sighting of the species in Kansas.)

Yellow-eyed Junco (2020) 2 November 2020. at Scott Lake State Park, Scott County, reported by Sara Shane and documented with several photographs. This bird remained into spring 2021 and was seen and photographed by many individuals.

[Mexican Whip-poor-will] (2020) 15 September 2020, at Middle Spring, Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, reported by Steve Kingswood. A bird was heard calling. Attempts the next night to hear it again so it could be recorded were not successful. This is the first record of this species in Kansas. Since the record was submitted without physical evidence the bird will be added to the KOS Check-list as a hypothetical species.

Royal Tern (2021) 14 August 2021, at Marion Reservoir, Marion County, by Lisa Hoffman and seen by many other observers. Documented with photographs.

Limpkin (2022) - 4 June 2022 near a rural residence a few miles west of DeSoto High School by Scott and Janie Widman. Documented with video. (Several additional reports from other eastern Kansas counties were received by the KBRC in the summer of 2022.)

In 2019 the KBRC accepted a record of a Taiga Bean Goose/Tundra Bean Goose that had been reported in 2014. These two species were once considered one species and while the report ruled out other geese species it was not adequately described to differentiate between Taiga or Tundra. Since the check-list only includes distinct species it was not added to the check-list.

Species Removed from the Kansas Checklist

One species has been removed from the Kansas Checklist in this same time frame. In 2017, the North American Check-list Committee of the American Ornithological Society determined that Thayer's Gull was a subspecies of Iceland Gull. All records of both species have been combined under Iceland Gull.

updated November 2022 - ceo

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