052320 SNP Edition, Life At Boomer Lake

https://www.stwnewspress.com/news/life-at-boomer-lake-great-bird-sightings-in-payne-county/article_52e10cc2-9ca6-11ea-afcb-d7a7b3a89a48.html

051320 Yesterday's Rain and Clouds Yielded Good Finds

                                                                  Black Tern

                                                                  Cliff Swallow

                                                                         Bell's Vireo
                                                              Bright Eastern Subspecies

051220

Birding was done in two segments yesterday, as the weather began as very inclement.  It stayed mostly cloudy the entire day, but between 0740-0819 when out the first time, the wind chill was 43 degrees and it was either drizzle or light rain.   We began and ended the morning at Heron Cove with four Pied-billed Grebes, one Black Tern, Spotted Sandpipers,  Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Herons, a southbound Great Egret, a couple of Downy Woodpeckers, Least Flycatcher, Fish Crow,  f Purple Martins, a handful of American Robins, Cedar Waxwing, several European Starlings, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, nine Yellow Warblers, and a couple of Northern Cardinals.

23 species were observed in 39 minutes.

The return trip was made shortly after 1400, when the above shots were taken.  There were more Black Terns, one of which was shot at Shorebird Jetty.  A couple of Forster's Terns were found off the southwest jetty on a snag in the water.  There were several Spotted and Least Sandpipers as well as a dozen Cliff Swallows, one perched on a snag north of The Jetty by Finch Corner.

We also located Eurasian Collared-Doves, Mourning Doves, a Red-shouldered Hawk being dive bombed by Great-tailed Grackles, as well as a Gray Catbird, Carolina Wren, and Brown-headed Cowbird.

The Bell's Vireo was found on the west side of Bald Cypress Row, south of Shorebird Jetty, as was the Great Crested Flycatcher.

Further along, we encountered a Western Kingbird, Northern Flicker, more Yellow Warblers, and off the last eastern jetty just prior to Goose Island were thirty Blue-winged Teal, three Northern Shovelers, and two American Coots.

The afternoon trip gave up 43 species in 2 1/2 hours.