Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus)
Perry Lake, Jefferson County, Kansas
21 December 2003
At about 9 AM during the 2003 Oskaloosa/Perry Lake Christmas Bird Count, David Herrin and I found this bird near the tower on the Perry Lake dam. Mick McHugh joined us around 1:30 PM and we relocated the bird. It spent most of its time in the riprap on the face of the dam but periodically flew up to the guardrail or other structures bordering the road across the dam. It was quite tame and responded once to "pishing" and subsequently to a recording of Rock Wren songs and calls. In the latter case it took a few minutes to appear but then stayed in plain view for several minutes, approached us closely, and called occasionally. It gave no appearance of being agitated, allowing excellent photo opportunities as it leisurely moved among various vantage points.
I took the four photos below (and 46 others) with my Nikon CoolPix 4500 at 4x optical zoom, mounted on a Kowa TSN-824 82mm spotting scope at 20x, shortly after 9 AM on 21 December. Conditions were nearly ideal for photography, with only a light breeze and cool, dry, clear weather.
Pending acceptance by the Kansas Bird Records Committee, this is apparently the second record of this species in Jefferson County.
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