Showing posts with label Bewick's Wren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bewick's Wren. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Sunday, June 25, 2023
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
Birds of Boomer For December 2018
Red-shouldered Hawk
Juvenile Herring Gulls
Male Hooded Merganser
Juvenile Herring Gull (Rear)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Common Merganser
Glaucous Gull ?
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Carolina Chickadee
Green-winged Teal
Bewick's Wren
Common Merganser
Juvenile Herring Gulls
Common Merganser
12-05 - 12-16-18
Most of December was a very mild month, with very few birds of interest at Boomer Lake.
We had more Herring Gulls than usual, one or two in a couple of hundred Ring-billed Gulls was normal, but we have seen double, sometimes triple those numbers this winter.
The Lesser Black-backed Gull has visited several times, along with a Glaucous Gull that came in once or twice.
Common Mergansers were all over the state more than usual, more than the normal Red-breasted Merganser.
This irruptive year also brought Purple Finches, as well as Red-breasted Nuthatches to mostly the northwest corner of Boomer Lake several times.
Hungry hawks have also been here, but not nearly the numbers that we saw last year--yet. Winter has only been here for a month.
Ducks were very rare in December, too, but there will be a few changes with occasional cooler mornings in January.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Bewick's Wren
Three subspecies comprise this species--Eastern, Southwest, and Pacific. The Southwest is paler (grayer), Eastern is unmarked brown with a pale gray belly, and the Pacific has a gray belly with a lengthy white supercilium.
The tail is more often held upward and flicked sideways which will show the white corners, especially when the species is in flight. It is thinner than the Carolina Wren and not nearly as colorful. Its syrinx allows it nearly two dozen melodies depending upon its range.
Preferring river and streamside, hedgerows, parks, farmhouses, suburbia with trees, and open woodland with thick undergrowth, this gentle bird appears tame and is quite approachable. It is rarely more than ten feet above ground while gleaning insects from leaves, tree trunks and branches. It blends into its surroundings quite well, so it could be difficult to see, unless it is a singing male atop a tree.
Bewick's Wren
Boomer Lake Park, Dec. 2016
This cavity nester will choose old woodpecker holes, sheds, abandoned buildings, birdhouses, tree cavities, etc. These sites are similar to those of the House Wren, which is more aggressive and will easily evict the Bewick's Wren if it so chooses.
It is strictly an insectivore, most interested in larvae, spiders, eggs, assorted insects, and small invertebrates.
They reside year round in the west and central states. Once the House Wren has migrated in the fall, Bewick's Wren may choose to overnight in its former nest cavity. What few are in the east will migrate between September and October to early November. It is suspected that both Carolina and House Wrens may have driven it away for the most part from eastern regions due to their more dominant natures.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
The Pre-Christmas Surprises of the Season
Greater White-fronted Geese
Brown Pelican
Ditto
Flying In From Dam
American Robin
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate Colored)
Harris's Sparrow
12-05 - 12-17-16
This assortment was taken both before and after the Deep Freeze of 2016. With the freeze
came the first photo, the Greater White-fronted Geese. They were in the company of Canada and Cackling Geese, as well as a Wood Duck, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, and a
handful of domestics.
It wasn't as cold as it had been for that shot, it was just coming out of sub-zero wind chills, some of which were a little above zero. I'd been out during those days and it wasn't pleasant, but good shots came with the territory. Birds still must eat no matter what the temperature is, and they will come
nearer the colder that it gets.
Harris's Sparrow, the Dark-eyed Junco, and Bewick's Wren were braving the wind just as I was, so
that was my reward for those endeavors.
The birds and I wish you the happiest of holidays and we'll still be seeing you after Christmas.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Days of Their Lives
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Double-crested Cormorants
Spotted Orbweaver
2nd Summer Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Ditto
Great Egret
Clay-colored Sparrow
Bewick's Wren
Carolina Wren
Juvenile Eastern Phoebe
Red-spotted Purple
These are shots over the past several weeks, as there hasn't been a lot of migratory
movement. Weather has a way of being a deterrent, but one also must be in the right
place at the right time. It cooled down for a little while, long enough for a few more
ducks to come through the area, and temperatures are finally quite seasonable and
pleasant. May those people that had to endure Hurricane Matthew be all right and may
you recover from that ordeal as soon as possible.
As a general synopsis, our young Yellow-crowned Night-Heron stayed with us at
Heron Cove for the better part of September, and chose the best willow to rest in
during the day, the same one that the strongest Green Heron chicks were hatched in.
Both Boomer Lake and Boomer Creek hosted more different species of herons than
normally this year, including a strong possibility of the Little Blue Heron, as well.
Larger than normal woodpecker numbers stayed at the creek, and many of them
were hatched here, including one female adult red-shafted Northern Flicker as a parent.
It is not known if there are any red-shafted offspring as a result of this uncommon union.
There were also good numbers of the Red-bellied Woodpecker young, and a few Red-
headed Woodpecker juveniles. No Pileated Woodpecker young were observed.
The Clay-colored Sparrow spent about a week with us on Boomer Lake and there were at
least two of them in our midst. Good numbers of the Carolina Wren were seen over the
season, and Bewick's Wren is once again in our midst.
Sadly, butterfly numbers were down by half, but on the positive note, this was the first
year that I have noticed the Red-spotted Purple in the five years that I have been in
Stillwater, and I only observed it on the Kameoka Trail at Boomer Creek.
Ambient water temperatures have risen two degrees F in the time that I have been in the
area. If this continues to increase, birds and other animals are expected to remove
themselves in a northeastern pattern.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
The Birds Say that Spring is Here
Bewick's Wren
Brown Creeper
Cedar Waxwing
Dark-eyed Junco
American Robin
Buffleheads Mating
Male Bufflehead
"Landing Gear Down 2"
Bufflehead Pair
Canada Geese
Male Northern Cardinal
Female Northern Cardinal
Beaver
Dark-eyed Junco
Mallard Pair
Brown Creeper
Another week in the life of the illustrious denizens of Boomer Lake. Spring is here early, which
was indicated by the animals. A calendar holds them to no set dates. When animals are ready,
they make it so. Several birds have been located at the Tree of Life, which is on the water and provides the insectivores like the Brown Creeper, the Carolina Chickadee, the White-breasted Nuthatch, and the Red-bellied and Downy Woodpecker with sustenance. There is even a nesting
sight being made ready by a pair of Carolina Chickadees, which will be monitored by Yours Truly.
Spring is both alive and well and in the Oklahoma area, so enjoy. Trees are not only budding, but some are even flowering.
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