Recorders Report – January 2007

Beginning a New Year

When a blizzard in the Oklahoma panhandle canceled the Black Mesa Christmas Bird Count, Jimmy Woodard was joined by Max Fuller, Nealand Hill and Jerry Vanbebber for a New Year’s birding cruise in the Oklahoma City Metro area and found 78 species. 

Jimmy started with an American Goldfinch flying over his head at his house in Yukon.  There were 9 Greater Yellowlegs at Crystal Lake, 4 Black-crowned Night Herons at Twin Lakes, over 40 Smith’s Longspurs at the Purina field, and a Barred Owl at Stinchcomb.  At Lake Hefner there was a Western Grebe, lots of Horned Grebes, 3 Eared Grebes, 8 Common Loons, a Merlin on the back side of the golf course and a Great Egret at the marina.  West of Fort Reno were 2 Barn Owls, over 4 Greater Scaup at the sewage ponds, and 2 Short-eared Owls were out well before sundown being harassed by Northern Harriers.

On January 2rd Olen Thomas saw three different Brown Creepers working their own tree trunk spaced 5-10 yards apart at Lake Carl Blackwell while the upper branches were being worked by Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  Matt and Jenny Foster in Blanchard saw a Brown Creeper, as well as a pair of Cedar Waxwings and a Golden-crowned Kinglet over the New Year’s weekend.  Dora and Carl Webb had a Brown Creeper working the River Birch tree in their backyard on January 5th.

Larry Mays was able to take vacation and get in some serious birding to start the year off right with a total of 102 species.  Some of the noteworthy birds he saw on January 1st included a Prairie Falcon northeast of Colony, a Marsh Wren and Vesper Sparrow on Crowder Lake south of Weatherford, and Mountain Bluebirds northeast of Binger.  At Ft. Cobb Reservoir he saw over 4,000 Crackling Geese, over 250 White-fronted Geese, over 200 Snow Geese, a good dozen or more Ross’s Geese, about 3,000 Ring-billed Gulls with not another gull species, and about 1,000 Mallards.  On the 2nd he saw a Common Yellowthroat, House Wren and Marsh Wren in the cattails on the north side of Lake Overholser and on January 4th there were two Western Grebes on the south side of Lake Lawtonka.  He is going to hate going back to work.

Nancy Vicars stopped by the OKC Zoo lake on January 6th and was surprised to find 5 Black-crowned Night Herons roosting along the shoreline on the zoo side of the lake.  She made a swing around Lake Overholser that afternoon and found 1 Great Egret among the many Great Blue Herons on the west side of the shoreline.  There was a group of 7 Greater Yellowlegs on the east side near the ranger station.

Temperatures for the early part of the month were in the 40 and 50°F, rising to a high of 62°F on the 10th , 70°F on the 11th and on January 12th the high was 60°F.  Then winter arrived.  With less than an inch of precipitation and a low temperature of 19°F, everything froze.  The temperatures stayed below freezing for five more days, and the ice/snow storm made national news.  Backyard feeder watchers were able to enjoy more than the usual number of birds at their feeders.

In Stillwater Pam Clower had new yard birds that included Fox Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Harris’s Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Greater White-fronted Goose mixed in with a large flock of Canada Geese. Tim O’Connell had Fox and Harris’s Sparrows, while a Cooper’s Hawk devoured a Mourning Dove.  He did have an unusually colored female House Sparrow, which was a warm ochre-buff all over, rather like the color of oak leaves on a dry forest floor.  Joyce Konigmacher had a Northern Junco with a gorgeous striking contrast between the dark charcoal gray and the bright white areas on its head, back and throat which looks particularly nice against a snow or ice covered background.

Phil Floyd near Lexington noted lots of activity at his feeders, and birds are much more tolerant of his presence when he steps outside to feed them.  He also noted American Goldfinches, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice are riding the stems of forbs to the ground and chipping away at the frozen seed heads.  Many birds, such as Fox Sparrows and Towhees, are scratching in the dirt and leaf litter next to the buildings where the snow/ice has not accumulated. 

In Norman Judy Meyer reports wrens come in and out the pet door in her garage every winter.  On the weekend of the 13th Kim Wiar had 17 species including Savannah, Song and Fox Sparrow. In Shawnee Donald Winslow had 19 species including a male Brown-headed Cowbird and across the street a singing Eastern Meadowlark.  

In Oklahoma City Lisa and Randy Anderson had a White-winged Dove come to their feeder on the 14th.  Evalie Edwards had a Carolina Wren eating suet and hulled sunflower seeds on the ground in her yard, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet visited the area. In Midwest City Gayle Wells reports birds are roosting under their patio at night and a higher tolerance to their presence because of the storm. Mary Lane in Oklahoma City reports putting out sliced apples for the Northern Mockingbirds and hard cobs of corn for the Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays. 

As the weather ‘warmed up’ and roads became ‘drivable’, on the 24^th, Nancy Vicars checked Lake Stanley Draper.  She found 1,000’s of Ring-billed Gulls, 2 Herring Gulls, Mallard, American Coot, Canvasback, Gadwall, Pied-billed Grebe, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Loons, Greater Scaup, Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Ring-necked Ducks, Green-winged Teal and a Great Blue Heron. Three mature Bald Eagles were feeding along the north end of the dam, and Lapland Longspurs were heard near the marina. 

On the 23rd Larry Mays found 300-400 Lapland Longspurs in a pasture just south of his place in Newcastle.  On the 24th while working his Winter Altas Blocks he heard and saw Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks.  The best spot for longspurs was about three miles west of Tuttle where there were several thousands beside the highway and swarms no more than 30 feet away.  He found White-crowned and Savannah sparrows were literally swarming in the roadside ditches filled with tumbleweeds, along with Tree, Vesper and Harris’s Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, a wren or two, several Towhees, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin and a couple of Cooper’s Hawks. 

On the 25th Elton Williams found a Hooded Merganser and about 20 Canvasbacks on a lake in the Cambridge Addition in Norman. On the west side of Norman in a Beaver pond that has dried up and grown up with forbs, he found lots of Harris’s Sparrows, Carolina Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow, American Goldfinch and probably a Song Sparrow.  In Blanchard at their feeder Matt and Jenny Foster had on the 17^th, seven Fox Sparrows, on the 20th a Lark Sparrow, and on the 29th a Vesper Sparrow. 

On the 27th Joe Grzybowski stopped by Lake Hefner and located one adult Thayer’s Gull in the corner of Prairie Dog Point where the water channels in.  There was a raft or two of Common Mergansers and mixed groups of Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, 8 Common Loons, scattered Horned Grebes, 20 American White Pelicans and 1 Killdeer.  Lake levels remain extremely low as the drought continues. 

I appreciate those who help provide the history of central Oklahoma birds by turning in their reports of bird species seen at home and in the field.  I can be contacted by email at emkok@earthlink.net, leave a message at 405-373-2738 or mail to PO Box 291, Piedmont, OK 73078.  Esther M. Key