Recorders Report – November 2006

In like a lamb; Out like a lion 

The weather continued to be warm and dry, and the water level at Lake Hefner is the lowest I have seen in 25 years. November started with reports of unusual coloring in birds.  Jimmy Woodard reports a male Great-tailed Grackle at Reno and Council Road with a mostly white tail, a white stripe on its wing coverts and a patch of white on its back.  On November 1 Richard Gunn reports the leucistic red-tailed Hawk has returned to Norman.  To locate it, drive to the end of south Chautuaqua and look along the power lines that cross the road or in surrounding trees.   

John Sterling reports the black and white Red-tailed Hawk that hung around his sister’s house about two miles east of Paul’s Valley all last winter has returned for this year.  The head, shoulders, leading half of the wings are white and the rest is very dark.  Last year he was able to see the bands on the tail making it a first year bird.

On November 2nd Jason Heinen reports a large flock of about 66 Hooded Mergansers at Lake Carl Blackwell.  Joe Grzybowski reports a lot of American Pipits in our area.  Cynthia Whittier found them common along the shore of Lake Thunderbird on Saturday October 28th. 

On the 4th Joe checked about 1,000 gulls which were mostly Ring-billed and Franklins with a small number of Herring and Bonaparte’s and one California Gull.  He also found about 50 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Greater Scaup, Mallards, some Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead and Ruddy Duck.  He found small numbers of American White Pelicans, 1 Osprey, 2 Great Egrets, a few Forster’s Terns and a Black-bellied Plover.  On the 5th Joe found a Merlin on a post overlooking a baseball field at the corners of Wylie and Boyd Street in Norman. 

On the 5th Jimmy found an incredible collection of birds at Lake Overholser he estimates at no less than 5,000 and perhaps as many as 9-10,000 total birds.  95% were Franklin’s Gulls literally covering the shoreline and mudflats from the island near the police station on the east side around to the north end of the lake past the coffer dam.  In addition, there were huge swirling masses in flight overhead and a constant movement of gulls from the flats out into the lake.  There were several masses of American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants feeding on the south end of the lake.  There were several hundred ducks including Canvasback, Redhead, Ruddy, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Pintails, Bufflehead and one Common Goldeneye.  He searched hard for any scoters, and grebes, but they were absent.  On the north mudflats he found 15 American Avocet, 1 Dunlin, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers and 3 Black-bellied Plover along with lots of Killdeer and several flocks of peeps.   

At Lake Overholser on Sunday, Jimmy watched two different Double-crested Cormorants display an interesting behavior.  One had a stick about 6 inches long that it would toss in the air and maneuver around like it was a fish. It never swallowed the stick but would drop it, pick it up and go through the motions again.  Nearby a second cormorant had a large feather, perhaps from a pelican, and it would do the same thing.  It tossed the feather up, caught it, maneuvered it around, would drop it and then repeat the process. Once in awhile, it would preen the feather down smooth. The bird never attempted to swallow the feather.  He watched both birds do this continuously for about 15 minutes before he stopped watching them and left the area.  Was it just practice for when they actually catch a fish, Jimmy wonders?

In Yukon at several different occasions Jimmy heard a dueling pair of Great Horned Owls in some nearby trees usually around 9:00 pm. On the 10th at 2:00pm Jimmy observed a Swainson’s Hawk migrating over SW 33rd and Council. On the 12th he found 2 Western Grebes and a Prairie Falcon at Crystal Lake around 11:30 am. John Shackford also saw a Prairie Falcon about 3:30 pm the previous afternoon near the intersection of NW122 and Morgan Road flying NNW.  On the morning of the 17th Nancy Vicars found her first fall Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and 2 Cedar Waxwings in her yard.   

On the 18th Cynthia Whittier visited Lake Thunderbird and Lake Stanley Draper and found numerous species.  On the 20th they were walking just east of the RC flying field, next to Jenkins north of its intersection with S.H. 9, and in a patch of ragweed, they found a small mixed flock of birds.  Most were Northern Juncos, one Northern Cardinal and a beautiful Harris’s Sparrow who called to another in a nearby eastern red cedar.  It was her first Harris’s Sparrow of the season. 

On the 21st Pat Velte reports a Red-throated Loon and 1 Great Egret on Lake Hefner and at Twin Lakes there were 4 Black-crowned Night Herons and 2 Great Egrets.  On the 23rd Joe Neal and Mike birded Lake Tenkiller and found a Western Grebe off Strayhorn.  At Kerr Dam Mike found a Lesser Black-backed Gull among the cormorants and ring-billed gulls. They also found Common Loons.  

On the 23rd Max Fuller and Nealand Hill found 5 Mountain Bluebirds in the Roman Nose State Park at the boat ramp in some dead trees on Lake Watonga.  On the 25th Jane Cunningham had a Barn Owl fly over their backyard south of Lake Hefner.  At the North end of Lake Hefner checking the ponds she found a Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Canvasback and Hooded Mergansers.  Pat relocated the Red-throated Loon on the 25th at Lake Hefner.   

And then the weather changed with sleet, snow, wind and cold.  A storm most won’t soon forget.  Time to get out the feeders and winter bird baths. 

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