Driving back from Denver, a heavy snowpack still covered eastern Colorado, western Kansas and, I assume, western Nebraska. About 10 miles west of WaKeeney, the snow began to thin out and huge flocks of longspurs, horned larks, meadowlarks and other grassland birds began to appear along the highway. Attracted by these unusual concentrations of songbirds, kestrels, falcons and harriers were common, often knifing through the flocks like sharks through schools of fish. Beyond WaKeeney, the spectacle was over.
Clearly, the heavy snows had forced these birds from their usual wintering grounds and they had settled along the edge of the snowfield, where they first encountered adequate supplies of food. As the snow retreats, these grassland species will disperse throughout their usual range and their predators will have to work for a living again.
