Bird watching

Rare sparrow species sighted at Baker Wetlands

The elusive Nelson sharp-tailed and Le Conte’s sparrows have been sighted at the Baker Wetlands.

“They’re in the prairie cord grass along the levee at the west end of the gravel road that’s 35th Street. They’re on the south side,” said Alexis Powell, an avid birdwatcher and past president of the Jayhawk Audubon Society.

“You won’t see them unless you look for them,” Powell said. “They tend to stay in the grasses. But if you’re patient, they’re curious, too. Eventually, they come up and move closer.”

Nelson sharp-tailed and Le Conte’s sparrows breed in marshy, grassy areas in North Dakota. They migrate south in the fall.

“A few may hang around (Baker Wetlands), but most of them will be gone by the first of November,” Powell said.

Birdwatchers have been know to travel great distances to see the yellow markings on the breast and head of a Le Conte’s sparrow. The colors tend to be less distinctive in the fall.

Costa Rica

Attorney-client dispute causes delay in trial

Golfito, Costa Rica — A dispute between a defendant and attorney Monday delayed the trial of two people accused of killing Kansas University student Shannon Martin.

A three-judge tribunal ordered the trial delayed at least three days to give defendant Rafael Zumbado time to find a new attorney.

Martin, a 23-year-old student from Topeka, was stabbed to death on May 13, 2001, while visiting Costa Rica to gather specimens for a biology project.

Zumbado, 48, and Kattia Cruz, 28, are accused of attacking and killing Martin after she left a nightclub in Golfito.

According to the judges, defense attorney Luis Venegas, who had first agreed to represent Cruz, also took Zumbado as a client without winning Cruz’s permission. Venegas was forced to withdraw from Zumbado’s case.

IRS refunds

Uncle Sam asks Kansans to claim tax checks

The Internal Revenue Service wants to find 1,392 Kansans by Dec. 5 so it can give them money.

IRS spokesman David Stell said the agency had $748,831 in unclaimed federal income tax refunds and advance child tax credit checks. The 1,424 checks were returned to the IRS as undeliverable, though the checks bore the recipients’ last known address.

The 803 child tax credit checks and 621 regular tax refunds must be picked up from the IRS by Dec. 5, or the recipients will have to wait until they file their tax returns next year.

Stell said the IRS believed that in most cases of undelivered checks the taxpayers forgot to inform the agency of address changes, so the checks were returned.

The check amounts vary, ranging from $1 to $56, 281, with the average check totaling about $597.

Kansans who believe they have an unclaimed check should visit “Where’s My Refund?” or “Where’s My Advance Child Tax Credit?” on the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov or call (800) TAX-FORM.