Recorders Report – March 2007

In like a lamb; Out like a lion.

March started mild and dry with many days in the 60’s and 70’s.  On February 28^th Kim Wiar had a flock of Cedar Waxwings swarm her backyard yaupon holly and picked off most of the berries while a Brown Creeper was working her bald cypress tree.  In Cushing (Payne county) Etha Tinnie saw this years’ first Eastern Phoebe on their property. 

On March 1^st Donald Winslow found a displaying American Woodcock a short walk from his house in an old field in the undeveloped part of a subdivision.  On March 2^nd Donald took his zoology class and conducted waterfowl surveys at Lake Tecumseh and Lake Thunderbird.  At Lake Tecumseh they found 2 Great Blue Herons, 24 Green-winged Teal, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull and an American Crow.  At Lake Thunderbird (Little Axe) they found 2 American White Pelicans, 393 Double-crested Cormorants, 20-30 Ring-billed Gulls and 1 Dark-eyed Junco.

On March 4^th Joe Grzybowski stopped at Lake Hefner in the afternoon.  Among the 1,000 – 1,500 gulls on the lake he found a 2^nd-winter California Gull and a scattering of Herring Gulls of various ages including a sub-adult on the lake.  He also saw 100 Red-breasted Mergansers, a few rafts of Redhead Ducks totaling about 150+, at least 4 Greater Scaup, 8-10 Common Loons, one small Cackling Goose, two other non-Greater Canada Geese, and one Snow Goose.  On the 5^th Jimmy Woodard and Max Fuller also stopped and found several Horned Grebes, plus an immature Bald Eagle flew over them at Stars and Stripes Park.  On March 6^th Joyce Konigmacher in NE Stillwater heard a Harris Sparrow singing its plaintive song for the first time this year. 

March 6^th eight Tuesday morning birders assembled at Lake Overholser’s extensive mud flats and were able to observe Wilson’s Snipe, Least and Baird Sandpipers, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintails, Redheads, Hooded and Common Mergansers.  At the north end of the eastern trail an Orange-crowned Warbler in the cattails and willows put on a show for all to see.  Several Red-tailed Hawks were flying overhead and a flock of several hundred American White Pelicans were swimming in the lake.  Other species seen included Spotted and Eastern Towhee, Song, Harris’s and White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Junco.  Rick Ratcliff reports 2 Bald Eagles on the west side of Lake Overholser the previous week.

On March 10^th Jimmy took Ray and Barbara Johnson from Montana to the Purina field and found a LeConte’s Sparrow but no longspurs.  On March 11^th Jimmy joined the ASCO field trip at Lake Hefner led by Dr. Radke.  They found a Snowy Plover at Prairie Dog Point, a Western Grebe on the west side of the lake, a Red-throated Loon along the dam near the intake tower, a Franklin’s Gull in breeding plumage, and 3 Purple Martins at a martin house in the neighborhood below the west end of the dam.  Jane Cunningham also reports Horned and Pied-billed Grebes, Buffleheads, Mallards, Ruddy Ducks, American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Double-crested Cormorants, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitchers, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Eastern Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe, and Chipping Sparrows.

On March 12^th Patti Muzny found a Purple Martin soaring over her house around 6:00 pm, and Pat Velte found 2 Great Egrets at Lake Hefner.  On the 13^th Kim Wiar found a Mississippi Kite as she was driving down Avondale Drive in Norman.  R. Wells found a Pileated Woodpecker on SE 15^th and Choctaw Road.

On the 13^th nine Tuesday morning birders gathered at Lake Overholser where all of the cattails on the east side and most of the south slide of the lake had been burned.  On the extensively exposed lake bed, they found Greater Yellowlegs, Wilson’s Snipe, and Least Sandpipers.  In the lake were Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, around 400 American White Pelicans, over 2,000 Double-crested Cormorants.  Along the shoreline they found Spotted Towhee, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Harris’s Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and a Swamp Sparrow was coaxed out of the cattails along the Coffer Dam Road.  Rose Lake was dry, but a Great Horned Owl was found sitting on a nest, and a Jackrabbit was seen at the entrance to the Yukon water treatment pond.

On the 18^th Matt and Jenny Foster in Blanchard found a Lesser Goldfinch in the yard munching on sunflower seeds along with dozens of American Goldfinches.  On March 18^th the Muznys saw and heard at least 8-10 singing Black and White Warblers on their McClain County, Oklahoma property near the town of Byars.  

Ten Tuesday morning birders gathered at Lake Overholser and found Baird’s and Least Sandpipers, Wilson’s Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, and on the west side a Golden Plover.  Other species seen that day included Red-breasted Mergansers, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, and Green-winged Teal.  Later three surviving members went to Lake Hefner where they found 3 Snowy Plovers far out on the exposed lake bed.  Flying over the lake were newly arrived Purple Martins and Barn Swallows.

On the 20^th Joe G. stopped at Lake Hefner and found gull numbers were down but included 2 Bonaparte, a few Franklin, a few Herring, a few hundred Ring-billed Gulls and one scruffy 2^nd-winter California Gull with almost blue-like pale, sewage-lagoon green legs.  There were still some Horned Grebes, one Western Grebe, about 10 Baird’s Sandpipers, 3 Snowy Plovers, a Forster’s Tern and about 8 Great Egrets.  On March 23^rd Richard Gunn reports only seeing a few Purple Martins, swallows and at Lexington PHA a White-eyed Vireo.

On the 24^th Dora and Carl Webb walked the trails in the greenbelt area near their home in Edmond and were delighted to find a Louisiana Waterthrush in the small remaining densely wooded area of the neighborhood.  In was not down along the streambed but high in the tree tops singing and moving about while constantly bobbing its body and tail.  Nearby they found migrating Black and White Warblers.  Other birds included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Junco, Carolina Wren, Bewick’s Wren and Cooper’s Hawk.

On the 25^th Larry Mays in Newcastle has an Eastern Bluebird nest with four eggs, the Northern Mockingbird nest is ready for eggs, and the Bewick’s Wrens are carrying nesting materials to a nest box.  A Lincoln’s Sparrow has joined the feeder crowd, though it prefers to stay back under the shrubbery.  Meanwhile, Scott McConnell was birding the farmland west of Stillwater and had the pleasure of encountering a flock of at least 8 Vesper Sparrows sitting in some cottonwoods beside a road along with some Savannah Sparrows.

On March 25^th Dick Ledbetter found a male Black-chinned hummingbird began visiting one of his feeders just a little after 6:00pm.  It is the earliest they have ever seen a hummingbird in their yard in Chickasha in Grady County. On April 7^th Matt and Jenny Foster in Blanchard reported a Black-chinned Hummingbird at their feeder. 

On the 25^th Karen Bays reports a singing Spotted Towhee at the Myriad Gardens, and there was a pair of some kind of raptors cruising very high over the downtown OKC area.  In her yard in Edmond, south Logan County, she has Black & White Warblers, Eastern Phoebes and Field Sparrows in her yard and saw a Wild Turkey on her way to work. 

On the 27^th Etha Tinnie had 5 Wild Turkey in her hay meadow behind the house with a couple doing a mating dance. Rain cancelled the Tuesday morning birders on the 27^th, but four persons showed up hoping for a break in weather.  Two went to Rose Lake to find it dry, so they met again on the east side of Lake Overholser where the extensive mud flats showed two flocks of about 100 each Baird Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Pectoral Sandpiper.  The cattails had green shoots already about 2 feet tall.  Walking down the trail to the String of Pearls Park on the south side of the Overholser dam, they found a Great Horned Owl on a nest, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Spotted Towhee, and Fox Sparrow.

On the 28^th Martha Evans reports the first Scissortail Flycatcher of the year on her way to work at Choctaw Road and I-40.  Two weeks ago she saw a Red-shouldered Hawk and Pileated Woodpecker about 2 miles north of I-40 on Choctaw Road.  In Norman Cynthia Whittier found a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher hanging out on a fence near the intersection of Chatauqua and S.H. 9.  Shortly before that there was a Swainson’s Hawk heading north near Jenkins and S.H. 9.  Patti saw a kettle of 40-50 Swainson’s Hawks over the downtown OKC area around 5:45, and Jimmy saw a couple flying low over I-40 near Yukon around 5:15 pm.  Brian Muzny saw a Little Blue Heron in the vicinity of SE 59^th and Sooner Road in OKC.

On the 29^th Nancy Vicars was filling her feeders between rain storms, when she heard and saw a Parula Warbler in her yard.  Later that afternoon she checked out the Canadian Valley Sod farm at Wilshire and Midwest Blvd. and heard Horned Larks.  There was a swarm of Cliff Swallows at the bridge on Midwest Blvd just before 63^rd Street, and she observed and heard Fish Crows along Crutcho Creek at the RR crossing.  On the 30^th at the Crutcho Creek Sod Farm at Sooner Road and NE10th she had Blue-winged Teal, Gadwalls, American Wigeon, Mallards, Killdeer and a small flock of Franklin Gulls.  She found a hen Wild Turkey sitting next to the road on NE 10^th just after turning west from Air Depot Blvd.  At home she had a White-eyed Vireo, singing Lincoln Sparrow, a Chipping Sparrow and a small flock of American Goldfinch.

And then the rain turned to storms.  A tornado touched down and destroyed a house only about a quarter of a mile east of Rose Lake.  In Oklahoma City a new record for rainfall was set for March 30^th when 3.5 to 5 inches fell.  Flooding occurred in many parts of the state, and the lakes filled up to the edge.  After forever, Rose Lake is once again filled with water.  Will the shorebirds and ducks return?

 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