Cool Birds Draw Visitors to Steamy Locale

By Jim Low

One of Missouri's newest public wetland areas is turning into a magnet for unusual birds and the people who love them.

Elsberry, Mo. - infoZine - In the movie Field of Dreams, ghostly voices tell the main character "If you build it, they will come." The Missouri Department of Conservation has its own field of dreams in Lincoln County. Unlike the original, it is covered with water, rather than corn, and instead of baseball legends, the players are endangered birds.

The Lincoln County story began when the Conservation Department decided to restore more than 2,000 acres along the Mississippi River to its original condition, wetlands. The agency did not need apparitions to tell it that birds would come to B.K. Leach Conservation Area. The area was a historic haven for ducks, geese and other water-loving birds, not to mention furbearers, reptiles, amphibians and other wildlife. These began to repopulate the area shortly after the new wetland units were built. One of the units, called Bittern Basin for the birds it might attract, began to fill with water in 2004.

	The fact that king rails are nesting at B.K. Leach Conservation Area in Lincoln County is proof that the area's newly restored wetlands provide quality habitat for shorebirds. Other species seen there in recent years include sandhill cranes, little blue herons, common moorhens, least bitterns, marbled godwits, glossy ibis and black-necked stilts. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)

Area Manager Brian Loges was thrilled when he first found a king rail nest there in 2004. This was the feathered equivalent of seeing Chicago Black Sox outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson in an Iowa cornfield. Graduate students working on a distribution study of king rails were jubilant this year when they found at least two pairs of king rails nesting at B.K. Leach CA. At one point, they observed a brood of eight fuzzy black king rail chicks.

The king rail sighting generated excitement among bird enthusiasts because the species is classified as endangered in Missouri. The statewide nesting population is estimated at approximately 20 pairs. The species is holding its own in coastal areas of the United States, but inland populations are declining steeply, due to loss of suitable habitat.

King rails have very specific habitat needs. They only nest in large tracts of marsh where sedges, rushes, cattails and other plants rise above standing water. Their presence at B.K. Leach CA proves the area has high-quality wetland habitat.

"It is incredible how quickly B.K. Leach became a refuge for this species," said Conservation Department Ornithologist Andy Forbes. "When a bird like this arrives, it is a sign of very good habitat."

The king rail is not the only unusual bird that has found a home at B.K. Leach CA recently. Bird enthusiasts also have spotted stately sandhill cranes, elegant Mississippi kites, little blue herons, common moorhens (also with chicks), least bitterns, marbled godwits, marsh and sedge wrens and western meadowlarks. In the past few years, the area also has hosted glossy ibis and black-necked stilts.

The presence of these birds, which are seldom seen in Missouri, has attracted a larger-than-normal number of birders to the area. Although the area can hardly be called crowded, increased visitation does raise the possibility of people becoming a problem for the birds. Forbes said bird experienced birders generally are careful not to disturb birds. For newcomers to the sport, he offered a few rules for ethical birding.

* Use binoculars or spotting scopes to observe birds so you can remain at a respectful distance.
* Stay on trails. At B.K. Leach CA, this means levees.
* Avoid nesting areas. Chicks and eggs are more vulnerable to predators when parents are flushed from nests.

Dawn and dusk are the best times to see wetland birds. If you want to try to see king rails or least bitterns at B.K. Leach, visit the shallow marshes in the northern third of the Bittern Basin Unit. Wetlands are ever-changing places, so the birds' exact location from year to year depends on water levels and other habitat conditions.

You can pick up area brochures with maps from kiosks at parking lots around the area or download them from the online Conservation Atlas at www.missouriconservation.org.

Source: Kansas City infoZine - www.infozine.com
Copyright 2007: The Missouri Department of Conservation - www.mdc.mo.gov