14 February 2026
While most of the world was celebrating Valentine’s day and the global birding community was celebrating The Great Back Yard Bird Count, 20 birders decided to brave the impending rain and take a field trip to Stuttgart. We were well rewarded for our efforts with good birds and good company. Although a decent wind was blowing, conditions remained quite dry and not too cold. Some of the best weather many of us had ever experienced at Stuttgart.
To start our trip, we met at the Stuttgart Municipal Airport terminal where Patty M. delivered an educational talk about our target species and the best way to identify them on the field. We reviewed special airport safety procedures and then we headed out on the tarmac.
Walking the long strips of grass alongside the runways, we saw a good number of Savannah Sparrows, Killdeer, and Meadowlarks. A couple Northern Harriers caught our eye, but we were struggling to find any Smith Longspurs where they are typically found. Moving North, we could hear Longspurs, but they were across the runway from us and we couldn’t see them. Eventually we spotted a couple, but decided to switch our attention to an area known for LeConte’s Sparrow.
We succeeded at finding a single LeConte’s Sparrow, but it was uncooperative and moved away from us quickly.
Suddenly, a couple birders found a puddle with a collection of sparrows and a pair of Wilson’s Snipe. This seemed to reenergize the trip and our luck started to turn around. Walking the next track of grass, we managed to get a good look at 8 Smith Longspurs, including one that was just 15-20 feet in front of us (pointed out to us by Steve W. and Clay H.) Four took off all at once and flew over our heads, treating us to a delightful show. Walking back, Jerry B. found us another LeConte’s Sparrow. Just as we were thinking we had done pretty well for the morning, two Short-eared Owls popped out of the grass in front of us; another lifer for many in our group. We found a couple more LeConte’s Sparrows before heading back to the Terminal. See our Checklist HERE.
From the Terminal, our group split into two parts. The first group, led by Sarah, took a big driving loop around the East Side of the airport. This group was rewarded for their efforts with a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Shrike, and a few other species not yet seen that day. See their report HERE.
The second group, led by Dawn S, decided we were starving for lunch and made a group reservation at a nearby restaurant. We took a short driving tour around the East side of the Airport where we saw a Logger-headed Shrike, some Northern Harriers, and then the road to lunch. On the way, several birders stopped to inspect some hawks that turned out to be Red-tailed Hawks. Over lunch we shared stories of some of our favorite birding experiences. Our Checklist is HERE.