Though I have been a birder for thirty years and a nature buff since childhood, I witnessed two natural spectacles yesterday that I had never seen before. On my drive back from Colorado, a flock of 200 or more meadowlarks crossed the highway west of Salina and, in bottomlands near Topeka, I saw a flock of at least 60 wild turkeys.
Neither would likely be classified as rare or unusual events; there was no need to contact the Kansas birding clubs to report either sighting. But while many birds, including these two species, gather in sizable flocks during the colder months, I had never seen such large congregations of either species over the years. And for someone who has spent a large amount of time tramping around nature preserves and open space, that's saying something.
Such is the motivation and inspiration for nature study. One never knows what to expect, even on a bleak, cold day in Kansas.
