Recorders Report – September 2006

While several cold fronts with moisture came through the state during September, not all areas received the same amount of moisture.  The total rainfall report for September at Will Rogers Airport was zero, while Tinker Air Force Base reported 2.48 inches.  The water year runs from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006, and is the third driest on record.  

In the central Oklahoma area the deficit for the year runs from 15-20 inches on the east to 10-15 inches in the central to 5-10 inches on the west in a wavy line pattern.  Many commercial crops are reporting a lower than normal harvest, including a 41 percent drop in the peanut harvest, making it the lowest in 50 years.  There are no records for the production of the seed crops needed by birds and other wildlife for the winter.

On September 3 at Lake Hefner, Joe Grzybowski found 2 Caspian Terns and a few Black Terns among the Forster’s Terns and Ring-billed Gulls.  Shorebirds included Killdeer, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Least, Semipalmated and Baird’s Sandpipers, 3 Sanderlings, 4 Stilt Sandpipers and a few Wilson’s Phalaropes.  Also on the lake were a few Double-crested Cormorants and an American White Pelican.  Cruising in the sky was an immature Bald Eagle.

On September 6th while Nancy Vicars was filling her bird feeder in the morning, she was treated to a visit by a Chestnut-sided Warbler, a family of Baltimore Orioles and a Least Flycatcher.  Earlier in the week she found a Mourning Warbler in her okra patch feeding on ants.

On Sunday the 9^th, at Lake Overholser, the water level continued to drop exposing more mudflats, creating very good conditions for shorebirds. On the north end mudflats Jimmy Woodard observed 3 Semipalmated Plovers, a Sanderling, an American Avocet, lots of peeps and 1 Piping Plover.

On the 14th on the Canadian River south of Norman, Richard Gunn had an Osprey, but the Blue-winged Teal were gone that had been swarming all week.  He also found Eastern Phoebes, a few peeps and several Empid sp. Flycatchers.   

On the 14th Jimmy spent 45 minutes at Lake Overholser and found lots of shorebirds but nothing unusual.  They included tons of peeps, a Sanderling, 6+ Stilt Sandpipers, a Long-billed Dowitcher, 2 American Avocets, and an increased number of American White Pelicans.  Meanwhile, on the pond near his home, Dr. Sam Moore found a Whistling Duck. 

On the 16^th, Joe stopped by Lake Hefner late in the morning while returning from a soccer game in Edmond.  Among the Ring-billed Gulls he found a Herring Gull, a California Gull, and a few Franklin’s Gulls.  The wind was blowing pretty hard and some of the Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets joined the gulls just off the dam in cruising over the water, occasionally dipping to take whatever off or just below the surface.

On the 18th a cold front and rain brought in a heavy influx of new birds to Lake Overholser.  Jimmy found ducks everywhere but the largest numbers were Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeons, Mallards, Gadwalls and a large raft of American Coots.  On a flooded field just west of Route 66 Park on NW 23rd Street, there were lots of ducks, egrets, herons, ibis and shorebirds. 

The tall grass made seeing the birds difficult, but there were over 500 egrets -- mostly Cattle Egrets.  There were at least a 100 Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, a few Wilson’s Phalaropes and Long-billed Dowitchers.  The mudflats held lots of shorebirds -- mostly peeps -- and a few Stilt Sandpipers and one Black-bellied Plover in full breeding plumage.  3 Hudsonian Godwits fed in the deeper water, and other species included American White Pelicans, and American Avocets.  Among the gulls were 25 Franklin’s Gulls, 20 Black Terns, and 4 Semipalmated Plovers.  A Peregrine Falcon made repeated passes at several Black Terns, but was unsuccessful. John Shackford also saw the Peregrine Falcon. 

Jimmy found a new birding location in Yukon.  The Yukon City Park is just north of I-40 between Garth Brooks Blvd and Czech Hall Road and has a nature trail that runs along a heavily wooded creek on the east side with lots of tall cottonwoods and several patches of dense trees with heavy undergrowth.  There is a graveled trail through the woods on the south end of the park, and on the north end the trail is dirt or grass and it follows along a small lake.  There is also a wide dirt trail along Spring Creek that goes north from the dam, which eventually takes you out to Chisholm Trail Park, about a mile to the north.  

Both parks run together, but Chisholm Trail Park has more open fields and is not as good for birding.  Jimmy birded this area on the 10th and 17th and found quite a few birds.  They included Downy, Redhead, and Red-bellied woodpeckers, Northern Flicker, Bewick’s, Carolina, and House Wrens, Great Crested and Least Flycatchers.  Warblers and Vireos included Black and White Warblers, male and female Redstarts, Nashville Warblers Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellowthroat Warblers, Blue-headed Vireos and Warbling Vireos.  

Other birds included Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Osprey migrating together, American Robins, Blue Jays, Bullock’s Oriole, Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Eurasian Collard Dove, several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse and several Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  On both Sundays, the birding was either before or after a rainstorm.  This park may be a nice migrant stopover place and should be checked regularly during migration in spring and fall.

On the afternoon of the 20^th, Jimmy and Max Fuller birded Lakes Overholser and Hefner.  At Overholser they had about 100 American White Pelican, a similar number of Double–crested Cormorants and American Coots.  A small number of shorebirds include 4 Marbled Godwits, a Sanderling, 3 Semipalmated Plover, about 30 American Avocets and 2 Black Terns.  At Lake Hefner there were 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Black-bellied Plovers, an Osprey, a Marbled Godwit, 30 Forester’s Terns, and 1 Black Terns.  The wind was blowing fairly hard from the south making observations a little difficult. Both lake levels are very low, and shorebird habitat continues to improve.

In the last year there has been a Greater Roadrunner spotted twice at the Cleveland Wal-mart parking lot.  When Lisa Weaver saw it, it was hunting right next to the store, on the west slide of the parking lot, next to the trees.  She walked within 15 feet, and it never seemed to notice her. A friend spotted it down closer to the highway a few months later. Lisa saw another one about 5 miles north of there on a country road about a year ago.  It ran down the road in front of her quite a ways. Lisa thinks it is always a thrill to see such a unique character. 

On the 27th about 6:00 pm Tom Curtis saw a flock of about 60 Blue Jays take flight from a wooded area headed generally southwest.  For the remainder of the evening Blue Jays were almost constantly in view, flying high and headed generally southward. 

On the 30th Pam Clower started her Saturday morning watching a dozen American White Pelicans soaring in circles above the southern end of the Stillwater airport moving toward the southeast.  In the afternoon Randy and Lisa Anderson went out to Lake Overholser and found over 100 American White Pelicans, a few American Avocets and 6 Greater White-fronted Geese.   

That evening between 6 and 6:30 pm, Diane Burrough saw 2 groups of about 30 hawks slowly making their way south over Shawnee.  As Loyd and Judy Stephens were returning from a trip to Colorado and points west, they found about 100 Swainson’s Hawks in a field about 18 miles west of Enid. 

In the morning of the 30th Jimmy and Max birded around Yukon and Oklahoma City.  At Yukon City Park they found the first fall Northern Junco, as well as, a Nashville Warbler, 2 Wilson’s Warblers, several Orange-crowned Warbler, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, about a dozen Chimney Swifts and one male Wood Duck.  At Lake Overholser they had one immature Bald Eagle, 4 Marbled Godwits, 3 Semipalmated Plovers, 15 American Avocets, 250+ Double-crested Cormorants, 140 American White Pelicans, an assortment of peeps and one Black Tern.  

Two female Northern Harriers were migrating with a kettle of Turkey Vultures. Several ducks species included Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Gadwall, and Mallard.  At Lake Hefner they found 5+ Ospreys, 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, one with an exceptionally short bill, lots of gulls including a few Franklin’s Gulls, several Forester’s Terns and a couple of Black Terns.  Even though there were lots of mudflats, there were very few shorebirds around most of the lake.   

In my yard the common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) and snow-on-the-mountains (Euphorbia marginata) started the month in full flower but ended in seeds.  Since there are few Monarch butterflies, I was curious as to how the plants were being pollinated in order to produce seeds for the winter birds.  I noticed at least two species of wasps were working the snow-on-the mountains, and there were small bees on the common sunflowers. A sphinx moth was seen hovering among the blossoms of the purple, fall, variety of the obedience plants (Physostegia virginiana) aka False Dragonhead. Sometimes the best place to study ecology is in your own yard. 

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