Showing posts with label Eared Grebe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eared Grebe. Show all posts
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Sunday, October 2, 2022
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Sunday, April 25, 2021
042521 Boomer Lake's Spring Residents and Visitors
032421 Red Fox Squirrel
American Coot, View 2
041221 Ruddy Duck
Canada Goose, View 1
Canada Goose, View 2
042121 Franklin's Gull
Summer Tanager (western subspecies)
Eared Grebe, Breeding Plumage
White-throated Sparrow
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Thursday, April 2, 2020
040220 Starring Eared Grebe and American White Pelican Convention
03-21-20
American Crow
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelicans
032420
Eastern Meadowlark
Double-crested Cormorant nearly
in full breeding plumage
032520
American Robin
03-26-20
Downy Woodpecker (female)
03-27-20
Eared Grebe nearing
full breeding plumage
Migration is clearly an event with several movements, including our late ducks and breeding plumage waterbirds. The one that I refer to especially in this arrival is the Eared Grebe, one of which I personally have never observed in breeding plumage. It was sleeping among a raft of Ruddy Ducks, including two others that I later spied. This grebe had rudely been awakened by a couple of American Coots that rudely ran noisily in front of it. The Eared Grebe made the attempt to return to sleep, but the ruddies awakened and decided to move. To my good fortune, the group swam closer to me and paraded right across me at a reasonable distance and I managed to get a fairly decent shot. At least it was enough to give a good look, since my observations in the past only included winter birds.
The Neotropic Cormorant has also been a fixture in the spring, having been visiting since at least 2015, when my original shots were obtained. We're hoping that it is breeding somewhere in OK.
The Eastern Meadowlark cannot be overlooked, as it is an iconic prairie bird in the great plains. Even though it has been losing population due to loss of habitat and pesticide use, perhaps we can manage to bring some of the numbers back with proper land management.
As of late, the Fish Crows have been more prevalent than the American Crow, and seem to be expanding their range more than the Black Vulture, which is being sighted in OK, too.
Several days prior to this photo there were nearly two dozen American White Pelicans around the Goose Island area. They stayed about four days, though numbers dropped. At one point, they were observed sleeping on the island. The Canada Geese didn't feel threatened, even with eggs in their ground nests.
Migration is clearly an event with several movements, including our late ducks and breeding plumage waterbirds. The one that I refer to especially in this arrival is the Eared Grebe, one of which I personally have never observed in breeding plumage. It was sleeping among a raft of Ruddy Ducks, including two others that I later spied. This grebe had rudely been awakened by a couple of American Coots that rudely ran noisily in front of it. The Eared Grebe made the attempt to return to sleep, but the ruddies awakened and decided to move. To my good fortune, the group swam closer to me and paraded right across me at a reasonable distance and I managed to get a fairly decent shot. At least it was enough to give a good look, since my observations in the past only included winter birds.
The Neotropic Cormorant has also been a fixture in the spring, having been visiting since at least 2015, when my original shots were obtained. We're hoping that it is breeding somewhere in OK.
The Eastern Meadowlark cannot be overlooked, as it is an iconic prairie bird in the great plains. Even though it has been losing population due to loss of habitat and pesticide use, perhaps we can manage to bring some of the numbers back with proper land management.
As of late, the Fish Crows have been more prevalent than the American Crow, and seem to be expanding their range more than the Black Vulture, which is being sighted in OK, too.
Several days prior to this photo there were nearly two dozen American White Pelicans around the Goose Island area. They stayed about four days, though numbers dropped. At one point, they were observed sleeping on the island. The Canada Geese didn't feel threatened, even with eggs in their ground nests.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Put Hackberry Flats in Tillman County, OK On Your Birding List
03-24-18 Hackberry Flats WMA/Tillman County, OK
1037-1600 hrs./69-82 F/partly cloudy
Male Cinnamon Teal
Eared Grebe Approaching Breeding Plumage
Eared Grebe (Front) Showing Size
Difference in Comparison to Ruddy Duck
Cinnamon Teal Showing Characteristic
Speculum Coloring
Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow
(Last Year's Late Hatch)
Golden Eagle (Larger Bird)
03-25-18 Boomer Lake Park, Stillwater, OK
1127-1239/53-29 F/partly to mostly cloudy/E-13/75-72% RH/29.87-29.91 Hg and steady
Franklin's Gulls Highlighted Among
Ring-billed Gulls
Franklin's Gull (Second Plumage View)
Five Franklin's Gulls Showing Plumage Attributes
Hackberry Flats is the first set of photos, followed by three photos of Franklin's Gulls the following day.
Hackberry is about four hours from Stillwater, unless one chooses Rte. 44, which we did not do on the way. Consequently, we got there on the late side, but that could well have worked in our favor.
We had an exemplary day, as we observed several things of interest, but we were unable to locate a Snowy Plover which had been reported for a couple of days.
Not only did we see a Great Horned Owl at 1500 hrs. on an electrical pole, we managed a Golden Eagle, also observed on an electrical pole. We both got shows of its underside, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what we had. As a matter of fact, this is such a rare record, because the only other sightings listed on eBird were two others in February 2017.
It was an outstanding day, as many shore/water/wading birds tend to change as often as teens change their clothing. For that reason we visited the waterways a few times in order to maximize what we could list on eBird.
Leaving the Stillwater residence, I was not expecting such a spectacular day, since barometric pressure was flat, but all in all, the four hour drive was well worth it.
It was my first time at Hackberry, as it was another birder's, but the third person had been there before.
Do I recommend this location? Absolutely! It is hard to plan great birding, especially if one has never been to a location, but it was encouraging due to the fact that this is a wetland. It is in
pristine condition, which makes it a good spot for wildlife, knowing that it remains unspoiled by humanity.
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